20 December 2007

Dundee website named among science world's best

A commitment to making science fun and accessible to all has landed a Dundee University website a major plaudit.

The web page for the laboratory of Professor Angus Lamond has been named one of the ten best in the world by the prestigious journal `The Scientist’ in their inaugural Laboratory Web Site and Video awards (see; http://www.lamondlab.com/).

One of the judges in The Scientist’s poll said the website was so good it made him want to work in the lab.

"The Lamond lab site sets the standard for what a lab site should aspire to provide," said judge Steven Wiley. "Tons of useful information from protocols, tutorials and databases, all in a very accessible and entertaining format. The multi-language overview is truly inspired and there is even provision for the general public. There are many interesting movies and there is a wonderful humor section. I laughed until my sides hurt. After looking at this site, I wanted to change my scientific career to go to their lab."

Professor Lamond and his team, based in the College of Life Sciences, have put together a website which emphasises the fun side of science and aims to make complex research more easily digestible.

"My motto is that science should be fun, so we wanted a web site that reflected that," said Professor Lamond, who is Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression.

"A lot of the work we do is extremely complex and we approach that seriously and diligently. But we also are aware that we are extremely privileged to be working in an area that is rewarding and challenging and a great deal of fun, and we want to communicate that."

The laboratory website, which is maintained by senior post-doctoral researcher Laura Trinkle-Mulcahy, mixes serious science and publications with a dazzling array of spoof movie posters, comedy videos of life in the lab, games and activities for children, and pictures of team members juggling and skydiving. Thus scientific databases sit side-by-side with images of Professor Lamond as Harry Potter and colouring slides for children based around a cast of nuclear superheroes.

Professor Lamond and his colleagues at the College of Life Sciences plan to expand activities next year aimed at communicating science to a wider audience using both online material and other media.

For further information on Life Sciences at the University of Dundee see: www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk

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University of Dundee
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