On Thursday 25 April, a dozen children from the paediatric unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital became scientists on a very important mission: to find Mr. Green and catch DNA! These activities are part of the Josep Carreras Institute’s new project, "A Hand of Science", a series of science workshops aimed at children in hospital. With the support of "La Caixa" Foundation, through CaixaBank, the project will travel to the paediatric units of the main hospitals in Catalonia over the next few months.

Through dynamic scientific workshops, the project aims to offer quality entertainment to patients in their daily lives, to build their confidence in science and, if possible, to provide knowledge and context to their personal situation. These fun and hands-on activities allow children to actively participate and use laboratory instruments and methodologies.

In order to get closer to children, "A Hand of Science" creates a unique imaginary, mixing fantastic elements and characters with real ones, which helps them to assimilate basic biological concepts in a playful way. It also provides health professionals with a basis that they can use to give a biological context to cures and treatments and to create complicity and trust with those children who have participated in the workshops.

The first visit at the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital

Naturally, the first visit of the characters of "A Hand of Science" has been to the paediatric unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, which is located on the Can Ruti Campus, as the Josep Carreras Institute. This visit was possible thanks to the assistance of the paediatric team, led by Dr. María Méndez, and the institutional representatives of the centre.

In this first phase of the project, the characters of "A Hand of Science" will also travel to the Arnau de Vilanova Hospital (Lleida), Sant Joan de Déu Hospital (Barcelona), Parc Taulí Hospital (Sabadell), Joan XXIII Hospital (Tarragona), Vall d'Hebron Hospital (Barcelona), Josep Trueta Hospital (Girona) and HM Nens Hospital (Barcelona).

100% safe workshops adapted to the reality of a paediatric unit

"A Hand of Science" consists of three workshops adapted to the different ages of children at paediatric units, either for those who are admitted at the hospital or for those chronic paediatric patients who visit the centre on a regular basis. The experience for the youngest children, from 6 to 8 years old, proposes an approach to the microscopic world through the search for a absent-minded character that has been miniaturised, Mr. Green.

For older boys and girls, the project proposes "Catching the DNA" or "Mutant Invasion", two workshops for ages older than 8 and 12 respectively, in which more advanced methodologies and concepts of genetics are explained. They also have a more teen aesthetic and plot.

The conceptualisation of the workshops and the creation of the pedagogical materials has been a joint task of the Communication Unit of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, a public CERCA centre of the Generalitat de Catalunya, as part of its commitment to bring scientific culture closer to all areas of society.