Last week (16th and 17th March 2023) our ESRs Shannon Amy Jenkins and Alina Meyer went to Brussels to participate in the Science is Wonderful! 2023 science fair. And what a wonderful time they had!
Students from all over Europe travelled to the event, hosted by Maison de la Poste, which included over 100 MSCA researchers from all over the globe. Students were able to participate in hands-on-experiments, games and quizzes. Our own stall included a fun activity, where students were challenged to piece together a puzzle which demonstrated how drug repurposing works. They were asked to search through a ball pit to find all of the correct pieces, and put them together to identify all of the correct drug-target pairs.
Once students solved the puzzle, they were asked to guess how long it takes, and how much it costs, for a new drug to undergo the typical drug repurposing process. And they were shocked at the answer!
Following that, the ESRs explained that, by using drug repurposing, we can cut the cost and time of bringing a new drug to market. Not only that, but lower costs also means greater accessibility to lower-income countries, meaning we can treat even more people in need.
The students loved the event and learnt a lot. In the end, they really were drug discovery detectives!
