​​​The LabRats  Science Club is a community of Year 5 to Year 8 members who

  • get to meet with awesome researchers from diverse fields of science 

  • share the same enthusiasm and passion for learning

  •  investigate and experiment to explore the wonder that is our World

  • believe in the importance of paying-it-forward

LabRats 

Our chance to play-it-forward: The LabRats at the biennial Australian Synchrotron Open Day 2017 & 2019 where we shared our love for all things curious with thousands of people!

2019 Victorian Junior Landcare and Biodiversity Grant Recipients  

March 2022: Forensics, Fossils, and F... Photons!

The world leading authority on imaging techniques, Dr Joseph Bevitt (from ANSTO, NSW) is THAT superhero scientist that dinosaur fossils and mummies count on to tell their story of their time on earth.

Our Mission:

August 2021: Food - Different By Design

To celebrate the Science Week Theme for Schools, Daniel Elridge led us through a menu comprising miso soup, cream, cheese, vinagrettes... all in the name of colloid chemistry! Molecular interactions was delivered in it's finest form.


June 2022: The Great Gut Adventure

Microbiologist Alison Luk and immunologist Gaby Pinget from the University of Sydney take us on an odyssey in our intestinal landscape that features poo, microbes, and short-chain fatty acids. We made poo!!


2022

the labrat Lair

Find out how we got started and why we are passionate about what we do

October 2021: 'LabRats Build' Series: Ships

Row, row, row your boat...Resident engineer Pierre Asselin takes us through our paces on buoyancy and displacement so that we can build our own boats. Then SHIPBUILDER extraordinaire Mark Jones inspires us with ships he builds for the Australian Navy. We met a shipbuilder!​


November 2021: 'LabRats Build' Series: Bridges

Compression, tension, torsion, shear..It's got to be done right to keep us safe. Engineers Pierre Asselin and bridge-building Arshin Zaman team up to inspire the next generation of problem-solvers amongst us. We love engineers!


Rats at play!

Have a look at what we have been busy investigating, coding, building, extracting, and launching! 

I have no special talents. I am only        passionately curious.           Albert Einstein 

April 2022: It's Cyberwarfare!

Individuals, companies, and countries are constantly under threat because there are individuals and groups worldwide targeting the technologies that defines and supports our modern world. Enter Rory Coulter - he works in cyberspace to understand how attacks on the national, state and local governments occur. 

Kids teaching kids

We share our love for all things curious with other kids in our community

In 2013, the really really nice folks at the Australian Synchrotron invited the LabRats to set up our lair at their NCSS Building where world class researchers work to better our world. Aren't we lucky?? 

Step Into the                                      Lair 

Science Club

superstar scientists

Awesome researchers who bring us on all sorts of adventures!

September 2021: TICKS! CHEMOKINES!  

Who knew?? Who knew we'd fall headlong in wonder and fascination with ticks, evasins, and chemokines? Martin Stone wields his craft powerfully and weaved an unforgettable tale of inflammation starring... TICKS.


LabRat

When the going gets tough, LabRats get tougher.

We will continue through these exceptional times looking for more discoveries, more friends, and opportunities to serve others.

To the superstar scientists, organisations, kids and parents who continue to believe in us, THANK YOU



In collaboration with the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (Junior Division), the LabRats are embarking on exciting adventures in water in 2020.

Many thanks to Landcare Australia for making the adventures possible! 

July 2022: Precious Plastics

Louis Walmsley and the Precious Plastics Team (Monash University) take us on an awesome adventure to understand plastics as a resource, not a waste.



Join Our Adventures!

May 2022: It's Crystal Clear

Our very own superstar scientist, Caitlin Ingham, shares her knowledge and experience in the world of crystals. And we attempt to make our own for the RACI Crystal Growing Competition. 


We are seriously. Curious.