School students learn about medical and biological engineering

Seven staff and PhD students from the Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering spent four days interacting with school students and the general public at The Big Bang Fair in Birmingham.

Visitors to the stand ranged from toddlers to pensioners with two days dedicated to school groups. Over the four days there were approximately 84,000 visitors to the event.

There were several activities at the stand, which were used to highlight the on-going research of the spine in IMBE. Activities included the Jump-o-Meter, which was used to display the pressure in a person’s back when they jumped, the Raspberry Spine which builds a device to stop your disc being squashed under a load, a demonstration of the soft tissues to show degeneration of cartilage and a touchscreen showing the difference in vertebrae of humans, pigs and sheep though computer modelling and MRI scans. 

Attending the event gave the iMBE members an opportunity to explain their research to a new audience and develop their communication skills.