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What if a single day could change the way a young person sees themselves in science? 

NeuroLab is an immersive, discovery-based neuroscience workshop developed by researchers at the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (CDN) at King's College London and foundry10. Designed for Year 12 students, the programme brings young people into a university setting to explore cutting-edge brain science alongside the scientists who are actually doing the research. After a successful pilot in June 2025, NeuroLab is now a recurring programme, and CDN is proud to be expanding its reach. 

Meet the team 

Leading the programme is Dr Katie Long, Reader in Human Developmental Neuroscience at CDN, whose research investigates how the human neocortex develops its morphology, including the size, shape, and organisation of the brain's outer layer, the role of the extracellular matrix in these processes, and how infections during pregnancy can alter this. Her commitment to making that science accessible to young people is what drives NeuroLab forward.  

Dr Leigh Wilson, co-lead of NeuroLab, is Public Engagement Lead and Teaching Fellow at CDN. With a background in developmental neurobiology, she spent over a decade in postdoctoral research before channelling her expertise into creative STEM education and outreach, most notably through the Dev Neuro Academy, a widening participation programme recognised at the Integrated Education, Research, and Service Award at the 2025 King's Engaged Research Awards. Upon establishing the educational partnership with foundry10, Leigh and Katie co-designed NeuroLab using learned approaches whilst embedding innovative outreach to bring the NeuroLab vision to life.  

Co-leading alongside them is Dr Laura Pellegrini, Wellcome Trust Career Development Award Fellow and Group Leader at CDN, who established her laboratory in 2023. Laura’s research focuses on understanding how the human brain develops and maintains its protective interfaces with the rest of the body. She uses human stem-cell-derived organoids to investigate the biology of the choroid plexus, a structure responsible for producing the fluid that cushions and protects the brain, and the cerebrospinal fluid system. Her work sits at the very frontier of human brain science, and NeuroLab gives students a rare window into it. 

Bringing expertise in both research and education is Professor Clemens Kiecker, Deputy Dean of Education and Professor of Neuroscience Education at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London. His research focuses on how the brain's complex architecture is established during embryogenesis, with a particular interest in the circumventricular organs, structures that sit at the boundary between the brain and the bloodstream. With decades of experience teaching neuroscience at various levels, he brings both the scientific depth and the pedagogical instinct that gives NeuroLab its academic foundation. 

Also central to the programme is Dr Suba Poopalasundaram, Lecturer in Neuroscience Education at the IoPPN, where she also serves as Senior Personal Tutor and Staff-Student Liaison Committee Chair for the Biomedical Science programme at Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM). Her research investigates pharyngeal arch development and remodelling during chick development, with the aim of understanding the origins of human birth defects. Her commitment to ensuring students feel heard and empowered throughout their education is exactly the spirit NeuroLab is built on. 

Keeping everything running behind the scenes is Karen Davis, Senior Research Study Officer, whose background spans project management, communications, event coordination and research across sectors including academia, finance and pharmaceuticals. She ensures everything is in place before and during the workshop. Without her, none of it would happen. 

Also supporting the programme is Dr Cristina Llinares-Benadero, Research Associate in Katie’s lab. With a PhD in Neuroscience and specialist expertise in cortical development, she has spent her career investigating how the brain's outer layer takes shape, working across multiple animal models and techniques ranging from time lapse imaging to confocal microscopy. Alongside her research, Cristina has a long-standing commitment to public engagement and science education, making her a natural fit for the NeuroLab team. 

Rounding out the team is Alyssa Siriyan, anatomy demonstrator and science communicator with a background in Biomedical Sciences. Alongside her work with NeuroLab, she supports CDN’s two other outreach programmes, BioEYES and DNA CREATE. Within NeuroLab, she supports facilitation, content documentation and dissemination across the programme, helping to ensure the science is as engaging and accessible as possible. 

A day unlike any other 

NeuroLab is built around a simple but powerful idea: that young people learn best when they are treated as scientists, not spectators. 

The day opens with a preclinical session led by Katie and Laura, introducing students to the big questions driving research in their labs. Students will be divided into groups and given worksheets featuring real immunostaining data images from human brain tissue and choroid plexus organoids, working through the material with researchers to understand the cells and structures within a developing brain. An accessible ‘house-building’ metaphor ties the science together, drawing a parallel between the materials and networks needed to build a home and the cells, cerebrospinal fluid, and neuronal connections required to build a brain. 

The clinical session then introduces students to real medical data and neurological specimens, including whole, sectioned and hemisected brains, placing the science of brain development into a human and clinical context. Students explore medical case studies and engage with the kind of thinking that connects laboratory research to patient care. By the end of the day, they are not just learning about neuroscience. They are becoming neuroscientists. 

The workshop concludes with a neuroethics debate, where students use an anonymous voting system to weigh in on questions that researchers themselves grapple with around the use of human tissue and organoids in science, and which avenues of research should be a priority. The debate that follows is invariably one of the highlights of the day. 

A growing programme 

NeuroLab launched as a one-day pilot in June 2025, welcoming a group of high-performing A-level Biology students selected from Harris Academy schools in London. The response from students was immediate and clear: this kind of experience matters. 

The programme is now returning, with an exciting pipeline of developments on the horizon in collaboration with foundry10, including a teacher resource kit to enable NeuroLab to reach schools directly, an online version of the workshop for students in different regions, and future collaboration with experts in Seattle to explore how the programme can be adapted across UK and US education systems. 

Science for everyone 

At its heart, NeuroLab is rooted in the belief that curiosity is best nurtured through discovery. By giving students access to real science, real specimens, and real researchers, the programme helps to demystify neuroscience and build confidence in young people who might never otherwise see themselves as scientists. The partnership with Harris Academy reflects a shared commitment to reaching students from underrepresented backgrounds, because great science needs diverse minds, and diverse minds need access to great science. 

Want to follow the journey? Keep an eye on the CDN Instagram and LinkedIn for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and news about how NeuroLab is developing. 

News story written by Alyssa Siriyan, to find out more please email Alyssa.