Year 13 Biology Trip to Wakehurst Place

Year 13 students visited Wakehurst Place and Kew Millenium Seed Bank in September, where they took part in a lab workshop in the research centre and used some cutting-edge molecular biology techniques to supplement one of their core modules on Genetic Engineering. They learned how to digest DNA into fragments and, using a gel electrophoresis separation technique, were able to identify a non-UK based plant which could have become an invasive species.

The day was finished off with a lovely tour of Wakehurst to show them examples of indigenous plant species from across the world.

One student said, 'It was really interesting to learn how important the seed bank is, storing over two million seeds, with some species already extinct in the wild.' It was a fantastic opportunity and day out.

Miss Mawn, Lead Practitioner Science (Biology)