Founders Day. "Is that Nobody's? No! It's Nanobodies!"
On Founders Day Professor Ray Owens from the Rosalind Franklin institute, came to give a talk on Nanobodies, how they are made, how their structure is verified and their uses. A few years ago Professor Owens featured on the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on the BBC, so the fame of his work goes before him.
It was a very informative, and interesting talk. The Year 9s and 10s learnt about how Llamas and Sharks both make small antibodies called Nanobodies. They can be made to specific viruses, and then collected and purified to be used to block the viruses from sticking to cells in the body. The technology's application is potentially huge, from diagnostics to disease prevention for example.
Professor Owens explained the process of finding out the structure of the Nanobodies and spike proteins on viruses, using a few facilities including the Diamond Light facility, which is a particle accelerator.
Now we know what Llamas and Sharks have in common, so thank you to Professor Ray Owens for all your time and effort.
Ms Kapila
Science Teacher and Leader of Elite Scientists
