UM FHS Science Talks raise local high school students’ aspiration in biomedical sciences

Professor Garry WONG and Associate Professor Chris Koon Ho WONG of the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), the University of Macau (UM) delivered two spellbinding science talks, “ A love story of Mr. Coding and Ms. Biology” and “Do Your Genes Determine Everything about You?”, to 87 Form 5 students of Sacred Heart Canossian College (English Session) and 30 Form 5 students of Colégio Diocesano de São José (5ª) respectively, aiming at arousing their interests in biomedical sciences.

Prof. Garry WONG enthused upon the correlation of computer science and biology and how computational biology is useful in scientific research. He created an engaging environment for the students by incorporating different fun activities with the aid of technology. The students actively answered the questions and made voting via their mobiles, and the answers and final statistics were reflected on the screen. They also got a chance to observe the nematodes. At the end of the talk, all the students agreed on the “marriage” of Mr. Coding and Ms. Biology.

Prof. Chris WONG amused the class by asking them to guess the genetic differences between human beings with chimpanzees, mice, fruit flies, yeast and plants. They were surprised that the chimp-human distinction is only 2% while mice and men share about 98% of their working DNA. Prof. Wong explained that although humans and chimps have many identical genes but a gene’s activity can be turned up high in humans while very low in chimps. DNA was more fascinating than the students expected.

The FHS academics believe that it is important for human beings to continue to advance the field of science. They have been keeping up the high school students’ enthusiasm of learning science. They showcased the students with amazing scientific innovations, ideas and findings in the science talks for bringing them new perspectives of biomedical sciences.