Laboratory Experience for high school students

The Human Biology programme of the Department of Life and Health Sciences of the University of Nicosia, and the Biologists Association OELMEK, organise summer workshops for high school students, presenting the contribution of biology to crime detection.

The workshops will take place at the premises of the University of Nicosia on 18-21 June 2019. During the workshops, high school students will have the opportunity to actively engage in investigating and attempting to solve a crime through laboratory and forensic analyses of biological material.

The summer school will commence on Tuesday, 18 June, with a talk by Prof. Marios Cariolou, Head of the Department of Cardiovascular Genetics and the Laboratory of Forensic Genetics at the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics. The talk is open to the public and will be in Greek.

A series of workshops will follow, which will give participants the opportunity to live a unique experience by getting to know the fascinating world of biology and learning about how it helps in crime investigation.

Students will learn the indisputable importance of blood and DNA in forensic science through workshops with Dr Vicky Nicolaidou, immunologist; Dr Myrtani Pieri, physiologist; and Dr Christos Papaneophytou, biochemist, all faculty members of the University of Nicosia.

Students will also learn how pollen assists in detecting crimes, through a workshop with Dr Areti Christodoulou, palynologist from the Department of Forests, as well as the environmentalists Dr Konstantinos Fanis, from the Ministry of Education, and Dr Iris Charalambidou, from the University of Nicosia.

Finally, students will learn about cybercrime and criminology through a workshop with University of Nicosia faculty member Dr Ioanna Dionysiou, who specialises in Cybersecurity.