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Nerdland Festival 2023

VIB booth at Nerdland

The Nerdland Festival is Belgium's largest outdoor science festival. During the event on May 26th, 27th, and 28th, 2023, at the Puyenbroeck Domain in Wachtebeke, attendees were immersed in a world of exciting shows, researcher-led discussions, workshops, and experiments. VIB was a partner of the Nerdland Festival and occupied the Festivallab along with Imec, Flanders Make, and VITO. More than 700 children visited our booth, where we performed some fun experiments related to investigating diseases through DNA, blood, and bioinformatics.

DNA proef op Nerdland

Explore your DNA

In this experiment, kids could make their own DNA visible and take it home! They learned how genetics changed our understanding of the world and helps us detect and treat diseases better. They also discovered how we can use our own genetic information to learn more about ourselves.

Project blood Nerdland

Project Blood

Visitors zoomed in on blood and learned about what this miraculous fluid means to us. They could look at different blood cells through a microscope and measure their own blood pressure.

De computer as scientist

The computer as a scientist

Children discovered how bioinformatics aids in disease detection! The Saeys lab explained how AI neural networks and the Google Teachable Machine help us determine the types of immune cells present in our bodies and their ratios. Then, they could see for themselves how this information can be used to determine if someone is sick or healthy.

Nerdland and VIB

Lien Moreels from VIB Discovery Sciences volunteered at the DNA experiment:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            It was a really wonderful day. It was great to see how interested the kids were and how well they handled the plastic pipettes. Some had already done DNA experiments at school and had very interesting questions. For example, a little boy asked me if I could tell how of his DNA comes from the Neanderthal. He had read about it somewhere. Other kids wondered if we could read DNA and how we could use it to catch criminals. There was even a child who came to Nerdland specifically because she wanted to give a presentation about DNA at school and collect some extra information. 

It was very busy, but nice to see how enthusiastic the children were about science. I really recommend the festival!

Other VIB people at Nerdland