The Genes Zone was a themed zone supported by Wellcome and involved six scientists:
- Remsha Afzal studies how to control our immune cells to fight disease
- Oliver Feeney is a researcher and lecturer in bioethics, interested in the ethical, legal and social implications of new biotechnologies
- Lisa Dwane is researching breast cancer and searching for new ways to treat this disease
- Kieran Meade runs a research group at Teagasc aiming to study the immune system
- Fiana Ní Ghrálaigh, the zone winner, is a PhD student aiming to understand how DNA makes our brains work differently
- David O’Neill, who was unfortunately unable to take part, researches into how the DNA of different organisms can make an impact on water quality and wildlife conservation
Students in this zone showed an interest in the zone’s theme, asking the scientists about their research and more general biology and DNA questions. Nearly half of all questions put to the scientists in ASK were about science topics, mostly human biology. One scientist, Remsha, was very active in ASK and CHAT, making up over 40% of all answers/chat lines.
