On September 27th, science is celebrated across Europe! Team Discover liver joined "ForskarFredag" event in Stockholm and taught local students about the beauty of the liver tissue. What did they learn?
Can we feel our liver?
Eli discussed whether we can feel our liver. Normally, it is an organ that goes unnoticed, but it has nerves inside that connect it to the brain. The liver communicates with the brain, for example, about the sugar levels and whether they need to be adjusted.
How does the liver look under the microscope?
Paulina assisted the students as they were playing pathologists and tried to identify liver tissues with tumors. In the meantime, Eli was showing mouse livers, in which portal veins and bile ducts were injected with differently coloured ink. Upon clearing, the tissue becomes transparent so one can clearly see the two networks in parallel (image from the stereoscope on the screen).
How are the cells organized in 3D?
Lenka zoomed even further on the cells in the liver and discussed how they come together to create a functional 3D tissue. She also talked about her favorite structure bile canaliculi, where hepatocytes secrete the bile. Ultimately, the students unleashed their creativity generating their own 3D models of the liver using plasticine.
We were impressed by the students' 3D liver models!
In all, we hope everybody enjoyed and takes away an interesting fact or two about the liver. Huge thanks to the organizers for helping with the smooth classroom setup!
See you next time!
Comments