Outreach

Ijevan Outreach

On May 06, 2023, a team of six members from the BIO-SEE initiative organized an outreach event for students and teachers at Getahovit School in Armenia. Getahovit School is a public school in Tavush Province, located about 130 km from the capital city of Yerevan, with a population of approximately 21,000 people. The outreach activity included the following components:

1. A presentation about the BIO-SEE initiative by Dr. Narine Sarvazyan titled “Biomedical Imaging Organization for South East Europe and How to Get Involved”.

2. A presentation by Ani Avetisyan based on the lecture by Dr. Narine Sarvazyan titled “Fundamentals of Hyperspectral Imaging in Biology and Medicine”.

3. Hands-on demonstrations by researchers from the Orbeli Institute of Physiology, including four separate demo stations where students could approach each demo individually and ask questions. The four stations were as follows:

• Clinical Datasets (Narine Sarvazyan, PhD),
• The demonstration of histology slides of different organs and the hyperspectral processing with that slides (Sergey Fedotov, PhD),
• Demonstrations illustrating the basic elements of optics (Daniel Polianczyk),
• The use of hyperspectral cameras (Ani Avetisyan).

4. Quiz game for students and award the winners.

Students demonstrated their ongoing projects in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Laboratories. The outreach session was highly successful, attracting around 40 students and lasting more than two hours. Students were enthusiastic and requested extra training sessions and similar activities.

 

Berd Outreach

On May 5 BIO-SEE team visited the Berd High School and conducted an outreach event. Berd is a town in the Tavush Province of Armenia with population approximately 8,500 people. The town is in the northwestern part of the country, 211 kilometers from Yerevan, surrounded by mountains. The outreach activity consisted of the following elements:

1. Lectures by Dr. Narine Sarvazyan and Ani Avetisyan “Introduction to Hyperspectral Imaging" and ”Organization for South East Europe and How to Get Involved”.

2. Hands-on demonstrations at three separate demo stations:

• Analysis of histological specimens using hyperspectral imaging software (Sergey Fedotov, PhD)
• A demonstration of the basic elements of optics (Daniel Polianczyk and Tigran Soghomonyan).
• The use of hyperspectral camera, HSI vs Human Vision (Ani Avetisyan).

3. Students had a chance to attend each station and ask questions.

Afterwards BIO-SEE staff divided students into teams for a quiz game. Students answered questions with great enthusiasm and winners received prizes. The outreach activity lasted over two and half hours, participants were very motivated and demonstrated high interest. Around thirty students and teachers attended the outreach session, and several students expressed their desire to come to the Orbeli Institute and to take BIO-SEE courses.

 

Anania Shirakatsy Armenian National Lyceum Outreach

On May 02, 2023, a team of seven members from the BIO-SEE initiative conducted an outreach event for students and teachers at Anania Shirakatsy Armenian National Lyceum. Lyceum is an educational institution that provides general education correspondent to international standards. It is the one in Armenia being both a member of IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization) and Round Square. The outreach event included following activities:

- Dr. Narine Sarvazyan gave a presentation about the BIO-SEE initiative titled “Biomedical Imaging Organization for South East Europe and How to Get Involved” and a lecture titled “Fundamentals of Hyperspectral Imaging in Biology and Medicine.”

- Researchers from the Orbeli Institute of Physiology conducted hands-on demonstrations allowing students to approach individually each demo and ask questions. Four demo stations were organized:

• Clinical Datasets (Narine Sarvazyan, PhD)
• The demonstration of histology slides of different organs and the hyperspectral processing with those slides (Sergey Fedotov, PhD, and Ani Avetisyan).
• Demonstrations illustrating the basic elements of optics (Daniel Polianczyk).
• The use of hyperspectral cameras (Seda Gasparyan).

Lectures and demonstrations followed by the interactive mini contest encouraging students to brainstorm and work in groups to answer multiple choice questions about hyperspectral imaging. Small prizes were provided at the end.

The outreach event was highly successful bringing together over 50 students and lasting almost 3 hours. Students were very enthusiastic about group work and BIO-SEE team decided to continue this practice. Next outreach activity is planned in Berd and Ijevan cities.

 

Vanadzor State University Outreach

On November 12, 2022, a team of six members from the BIO-SEE initiative conducted an outreach event for students and teachers at Vanadzor State University (VSU), named after Hovhannes Tumanyan. Vanadzor is the third-largest city in Armenia, located in the northern part of the country approximately 130 km north of the capital city, Yerevan. Currently, the town has a population of approximately 80,000 people, with VSU being its main institution of higher education. The outreach activity consisted of the following elements:

1. A presentation about the BIO-SEE initiative by Gevorg Drnoyan titled “Biomedical Imaging Organization for South East Europe and How to Get Involved”.

2. A lecture by Dr. Narine Sarvazyan titled “Fundamentals of Hyperspectral Imaging in Biology and Medicine”.

3. Hands-on demonstrations by researchers from the Orbeli Institute of Physiology. The four separate demo stations allowed students to approach each demo individually and ask questions. The four stations included:

• Imaging studies of pathways involved in the neural mechanisms responsible for motor functions, such as locomotion and courtship song, using the Drosophila model (Sergey Fedotov, PhD).
• Demonstrations illustrating the basic elements of optics (Daniel Polianczyk).
• The use of hyperspectral cameras (Gevorg Drnoyan).
• Illustration of data processing programs, such as ImageJ (Sasha Rotov).

The outreach session was highly successful, with over 40 students in attendance and lasting over three hours. The VSU faculty organizers received multiple requests for additional training and similar activities.