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Science Bursaries for Schools and Colleges

Another good year for Nuffield Bursary students at the BA Crest Science Fair

Mon, 14 March 2005

29 Nuffield Bursary students were chosen to present their prizes at the Fair and won 5 of the 9 prizes in their category.

The students presented their projects at the BA CREST Science Fair held on 28 February 2005 at the Royal Society, London. The prizes won by the five students included the QinetiQ Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar Prize and the International Science and Engineering Prize 2005.

The Nuffield prize winners were:-

QinetiQ Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar Prize

Photo: BA
BA winnerCaroline Clark from Filsham Valley School, St Leonards on Sea

Caroline will be representing the UK at the Science Seminar in December, where she will have the opprtunity to meet Nobel Prize winners.

Her project was entitled Development of Hepatitis B Virus Genotyping Tool

This project was aimed at finding a computer based method for determining the genotype of Hepatitis B Virus sequences. Phylogenetic trees were created and analysed to separate the test sequences into their separate geneotypes. This data was then used to create the classification tool STAR, (SubType AnalyseR). At the end of the four weeks, they had succeeded in making the tool and it will now be put on the Internet for other scientists to use.

London International Youth Science Forum Prizes (Joint)

Photo: BA
winnerJonathan Ariyatatnam, Bolton School Boys' Division
How true is it that patients with osteoporosis cannot develop osteoarthritis and vice versa?
The aim of the project was to disprove the suggested "inverse relationship" theory between two disorders of joint and bone - osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Bone histomorphometry was used to study the distribution of bone in femoral heads removed for fractured neck of femur or osteoarthritis. The results showed that osteoarthritis causes local changes in the bone beneath the damaged cartilage but not a generalised increase as had previously been suggested. This means osteoporosis and osteoarthritis could co-exist.

Photo: BA
BA winnerKevin Keelan, Calday Grange school, West Kirby
Deposition of fluorescers to synthetic fibres
Fluorescers are chemicals added to detergents to make whites whiter. There are two types of fluorescer only one of which (due to effects on the environment) can be added to water which will be released into rivers etc. A problem with this is that those used in detergents are mainly only absorbed on to natural fibres (such as cotton). The aim of the project was to investigate methods of improving the delivery of these fluorescers to synthetic fibres (such as polyester).
Following numerous experiments, I was able to conclude that high concentrations of two particular chemicals called polymers aid deposition to synthetic fibres and that a low surfactant-to-polymer ratio also helps.

Jonathan and Kevin's prizes are to join the two week forum of lectures and visits held at the Royal Institution and the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

International Science and Engineering Fair Prize 2005

Photo: BA
BA winnerGurjit Singh Sidhu, St John's High School, Dundee
Commissioning a DPD-3 Diode system at Ninewells Hospital

Radiotherapy is the treatment of cancer cells using high energy X-rays. Once a patient’s tumour is irradiated, it is important to verify the correct dosage was delivered. The aim of the project was to commission a diode system to verify this correct dosage. By irradiating the diodes under various conditions it was concluded that although the reliability of diodes has significantly improved over the years, more research is required before they are fully fit for patient use.

Gurjit's prize is to attend the International Science and Engineering Fair contest to be held in Phoenix, Artizona in May 2005.

Best CREST Gold Project - First prize

Charlotte Harper, Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, Elstree
Analysing Protein Interactions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The aim of this investigation is to identify a protein-protein interaction between two probable transcriptional regulatory proteins found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Cyclic Amp Receptor Protein (CRP) and WhiB1, using the Yeast Two-Hybrid System. It is important to decipher the function of these proteins, which could become new drug targets used to combat Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis continues to claim two million lives each year and has been recognised as a global emergency by the World Health Organisation. The project involved various techniques; culturing yeast, constructing E.coli plasmids with gene inserts, plasmid purification, yeast transformation, Filter lift X-gal assays, PCR and running agarose electrophoresis gels. Positive results were obtained with all plasmid combinations in which WhiB1 was in the binding domain, proving that WhiB1 auto-activates transcription in the binding domain.

Charlotte's school science department will receive £750.

Last Updated Tue, 10 May 2005