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On 5 and 6 July 2023, the ESEI-BioMed project running at the Regional Institute of Oncology Iasi organized "Open days" within the TRANSCEND Research Center for a group of 50 high school students, 10th and 11th grades, from the North-East part of Romania.

For two days, the students were introduced to the atmosphere of modern research in nanomedicine with focus on oncology and they had the opportunity to see "live" how the properties of matter change when the size is reduced to the nanometer level through experiments organized in this sense. Through this event, students had the chance to get to know laboratories where scientific experiments take place, for example, The Nanotechnology Laboratory, Cell Culture and Proteomic Lab and to interact with researchers working in the fields of chemistry and biology, two of the important fields in nanomedicine. In the first day, the students were trained by the project coordinator, Dr. Brîndușa Drăgoi while in the second day, the Nano world was introduced to them by the ERA-Chair holder of the project, Professor Dr. habil. Rares-Ionut Stiufiuc. After watching a presentation film of the ESEI-BioMed project and main laboratories existing in TRANSCEND, the trainers gave them a short presentation titled “Nanoscience - for Everyone/for Everything (in everyday life)”. Then, fruitful discussions about nanoscience and nanotechnology took place between the trainers and the students who were curios to find more on application of nano in the everyday life.

Then, the students visited key laboratories in the TRANSCEND and performed experiments showing how nano influences the physical and chemical properties of the matter.

The discussions were also focused on their interests in the professional life and what path they would like to follow after finishing high-school, what options they have to integrate in the labour market. At this point, the advantages of a carrier in research and why young people should at least think to decide on a scientist career were discussed. It turned out that for nanomedicine, as a flourishing area of research, the job offer is generous and fresh minds are expected to come up with new and innovative ideas to tackle healthcare challenges, especially for chronic diseases, such as cancer.

The students who visited us the second day of the event had the chance to discuss with Prof. Eugen Carasevici, the medical scientific manager of the ESEI-BioMed project, as well, who talked them about cancer and cancer research from the clinician’s perspective and why it is important to approach this disease from a multidisciplinary point of view.

The end of the visit was marked by offering personalized kits consisting of a cotton bag, a pen, a presentation brochure, a thermal insulated stainless steel mug, an umbrella, a wooden domino game and a wooden bookmark. By giving them this kit, the message was "We study, we work, but we also relax". All promotion materials in the kit were engraved with the logo of the ESEI-BioMed project.

The event was organized at the TRANSCEND Research Center, Regional Institute of Oncology Iasi, in line with the dissemination, communication, and promotion plan of the ESEI-BioMed project. A more detailed presentation of the TRANSCEND Research Center, as well as details regarding the ESEI-BioMed project, are available in this video presentation.