Escape lab
A Journey into drug discovery
Escape Lab: A Journey into Drug Discovery is an interactive activity inspired by our research, with the aim to engage audiences in the process of drug discovery.
Escape Lab started as an escape room activity at the British Science Festival in 2022, and has since evolved into events at various settings. Click on the tiles below to find out more!
British Science week 2025
During British Science Week 2025, we packed up and took Escape Lab to various audiences across four exciting events:
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Secondary school children at the DMU Teen Tech festival
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Year 5 students at St Joseph's Catholic Voluntary Academy Leicester
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Year 5 students at Forest Lodge Academy, Leicester
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Family Day at Science Oxford Centre
We had an absolute blast engaging with over 250 children, sparking curiosity and enthusiasm for science. We especially enjoyed all the questions from the students, which lead to some fantastic discussions ranging from the earliest medicines, the most interesting places we can find viruses, and what it's like to study at University!
A huge thank you to the Microbiology Society and Biochemical Society for their Outreach Grants to help fund these events. Thanks also to all our amazing volunteers, the DMU Widening Participation Team for their invaluable support.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Escape Lab through the eyes of Microbiology Society staff, Adam and Clare, during their visit to De Montfort University!
Oxford Ideas + Science Festival 2023
Lab Challenge is an interactive lab-themed activity aimed at younger children - step into a drug discovery lab to perform experiments and find a drug to fight a virus!
We had a great time running Lab Challenge at the Science Oxford Centre as part of the Oxford IF Science + Ideas Festival in October 2023! Over 90 young scientists undertook our screening, cytotoxicity and compound building experiments to find our antiviral compound!
British Science Festival 2022
We are so excited to run our Escape Lab activity at the British Science Festival 2022 in Leicester!
Inspired by our drug discovery research, you will have the opportunity to find the next new antiviral drug in this lab-themed 20-minute escape room. Can you develop a novel drug and prevent a pandemic?
