Monday 7th October 2019

Professor Lord Winston enthrals pupils from the Stamford Endowed Schools'

Professor Winston, the preeminent scientist and popular BBC presenter, entranced children from Stamford Junior School with a talk on science and the amazement of the human body on the morning of Monday 7th October. Professor Winston then moved onto the senior schools where more than 200 students had the opportunity to ask a variety of questions ranging from ethical issue to biological findings following his talk on in vitro fertilisation and human life.Lord Winston is Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London. In the 1970s he developed gynaecological surgical techniques that improved fertility treatments. He later pioneered new treatments to improve in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and developed pre-implantation diagnosis. This allowed embryos to be screened for genetic diseases and has allowed parents carrying faulty genes to have children free of illnesses such as cystic fibrosis. He now runs a research programme at the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College that aims to improve human transplantation. Robert Winston has over 300 scientific publications about human reproduction and the early stages of pregnancy.Will Phelan, Principal of the Stamford Endowed Schools commented: “Professor Winston held the students he spoke to (and the staff) absolutely spellbound. His insights into research, scientific findings and ethics resonated as much with our junior school students as they did with the sixth form. We were exceptionally privileged to meet him at Stamford."