Providing an Opportunity to Discover the Fun of Experimentation

On July 24, Chugai worked with the Japan Science Foundation’s Science Museum and Roche Diagnostics to hold a biology lab class for children titled, “What Kind of Meat is This? - Using the Real-time PCR Method^*1 to Detect Beef, Pork and Chicken in Foods.” Seven high school and junior high school students participated in the lab class, in which students used the real-time PCR method of analysis to detect beef, pork and chicken meat used in foods.

Another class was held on July 31, a joint effort between Chugai, the Science Museum and the NPO Life & Bio Plaza 21. This “Chugai Presents” biology lab class was titled, “What are Genes? - Observing Cells and Extracting DNA.” A total of 22 elementary school students participated, learning about living organisms by observing onion cells under a microscope, extracting DNA and through other types of experiments.

On August 3, we again worked with the Science Museum, Life & Bio Plaza 21 and NARO^*2 to hold another “Chugai Presents” biology lab class, “The Strange World of Luminescent Proteins,” in which 24 junior high school students participated.
Six Chugai employees also attended as volunteers, offering support with experiments and observations into the mechanism behind luminescence in living organisms.

• *1: A technology that uses amplification through polymerase chain reactions (PCR) to enable detection and quantification.
• *2: NARO: The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization