To Brussels with Knowledge

The UL researchers, Janis Liepins and Agnese Kokina, demonstrated the wide usability of yeast as a biomaterial. “Yeast is a simple and widely known organism; however it is not that easy to refer to it as an object for scientific research ”, said J. Liepins, who during the Science Festival gave practical examples of ethanol distillation process, as well as showed the activity of yeast cells by applying bio approach. In the UL project “Travelling through the World of Biomaterials” participated also the leading researcher of the Riga Technical University, Janis Locs, who attracted the Festival visitors attention by demonstrating the application of biomaterials in human bone implants. The Festival programme included also the European Youth Science Parliament, which was represented by two Latvians – Ansis Buikis and Matiss Dravnieks. The young students gained the right to participate in the Festival after the participation in Youth Science Parliament, which on January 15, 2010, was organized by the University of Latvia. The first day was spent consulting the experts in the issues of genes, DNS and stem cells. The next day, 80 new parliamentarians headed to the European Parliament, where after six-hour debate on various science dilemmas, a resolution was accepted. In addition, the Youth Parliament sent its official resolution to the European Parliament. “It was a great opportunity to discuss issues of science with many young people from different European countries. The work of Parliament was serious and discussions – quite intense”, said Matiss Dravnieks, a Latvian delegat from Riga Secondary School No.6. The Science Festival was held in the Belgian Nature Museum, Brussels from November 29 till December 1, and it was the final event to the project 2Ways, sponsored by the European Union and supported by the European Science Association.


Translated by students of the professional study programme Translator of the University of Latvia.