The Leiden Institute of Chemistry organises and participates in several programmes for high school students and teachers.

Reizend DNA Lab/DNA Lab On The Road

Since 2006, the Leiden Institute of Chemistry has successfully organised the "Reizend DNA-lab: Gezond of Ziek: een vouwtje verkeerd”. During this DNA-lab course, Dutch high school students of 4 HAVO until 6 VWO will search for the molecular causes of some protein folding diseases like cancer, cystic fibroses and Alzheimer’s disease. The students get acquainted with techniques to trace “healthy” and “unhealthy” proteins in cells and to determine different protein structures. By letting high school students and teachers work with research techniques and equipment we try to connect the high school biology and chemistry lessons with the world of science.

During the whole school year, student of the faculty of Science travel to high schools throughout the Netherlands to teach the DNA-lab course. Schools can register for a lab on the website dnalabs.nl. On this website, more information can be found about the specific DNA-labs as well as information on registration.

Help with science projects

Next to the DNA-labs, we also help high school students with their science projects. If they have a question on a chemistry project, they can ask a Chemistry or Life Science & Technology student for help. They can do so through this website. If high school students need help with the execution of an experiment, they can come and visit our Junior Science Lab.