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Five QE sixth-formers have scored multiple successes in Cambridge University competitions.

Wen Lee, who has just started Year 13, was named runner-up in the Homerton College Essay Programme for his composition on Can renewable energy save us from a climate catastrophe?

Four other students were among the top-ten winners in the Cambridge Biology Challenge – also associated with Homerton – after impressing the judges across the competition’s four rounds. Shashank Pothuganti, of Year 13, entered as an individual and came fifth out of 941 entries, while a Year 12 team comprising Akein Abeysinghe, Felix Chen and Pranay Thokala finished just behind him, in sixth place.

Deputy Head (Academic) Anne Macdonald said: “The success of our five students in these highly demanding competitions is due reward for their intelligence, their thoughtful approach, and their impressive degree of commitment. At QE, in the words of our Boundless School Plan, we seek to nurture ‘deep thinkers and compelling communicators’: what better example of that could there be than these pupils? Our congratulations go to them all.”

After applying to the essay programme because of his interest in the topic and the opportunity it gave him to bring together his A-level studies in Economics and Geography, Wen’s first success was in being selected to take part. For his essay, he researched the complex relationship between energy, economics and climate change.

One of only 50 young people selected to take part in the conference held for the parallel essay and design programmes, he enjoyed a tour of Homerton College and the insight he was given into life there.

He took part in a series of activities designed to encourage students to think critically about global challenges. One of the highlights was a ‘mini Model United Nations’ activity, where conference delegates worked in groups representing different countries and considered how global warming could be addressed from their country’s individual perspective.

The conference concluded with an awards ceremony, where Wen was only one of two students to receive a prize for his essay category. He received a plaque, certificate and a book.

In the Cambridge Biology Challenge, Shashank took part as an individual, which meant he was competing against teams of up to five. He was awarded a distinction in all four rounds, as well as a badge of merit in three rounds. In the third, he was overall runner-up.

The demanding challenge required teams to respond to four questions over the course of eight months:

1. Can new life be created?
2. Why is Maths a gift for biologists?
3. What does it mean for a non-human organism to be intelligent?
4. What skills are needed for success in Biology?

Not only did Shashank contribute essays, he also submitted videos and a visual novel. The latter two media were a new departure for him, involving him “stepping out of his comfort zone”, as he put it.

As well as all the research, critical thinking and problem-solving he deployed across the rounds, Shashank faced the added challenge that the final round came just before his AS exams, so he had to juggle his entry with his School studies.

It was his debut in the challenge, whereas his three fellow QE entrants had all entered the previous year. Determined to build on their previous performances – when Pranay’s team finished 11th and Felix and Pranay’s team placed 17th– their combined approach this year saw them rise up the leader board to take their sixth spot.

The QE entrants were invited to a special conference and awards ceremony at Homerton, where they attended a lecture, toured the college and took part in a series of activities and puzzles.

Like their fellow competitor Shashank, Felix, Pranay and Akein are passionate about Biology, with Pranay and Akein hoping to pursue careers in medicine.

Sixth-former Tanush Gupta has won first prize in a prestigious European competition for his video on genetic diversity.

His name was announced in front of more than 5,000 international scientists and doctors at the European Human Genetics Conference in Milan.

The prize from the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) in its 17th annual European DNA Day Video Contest, includes €400 for Tanush and €1,000 for the School.

Head of Biology Gillian Ridge said: “This is really quite a considerable achievement: Tanush’s video was meticulously put together and he worked on it independently. Many congratulations to him on this success.”

Pupils from 26 European countries submitted 31 videos in video contest and 298 essays in the parallel essay competition this year.

The task set for the entrants was: Please, discuss the importance of understanding genetic diversity for health and disease. Support your example with specific DNA variants and genes.

Tanush submitted a five-minute video entitled Genes Across the Globe: Why Genetic Diversity Matters that was amply illustrated throughout with colour drawings and simple animations.

In the video he highlights the current focus of genetic medical research being on European populations, with deleterious consequences for people of other ethnicities: “If genetic research is not inclusive, certain populations suffer from undetected risks and ineffective medical interventions,” he says.

Tanush concludes: “Genetics isn’t just about understanding the past, it’s about shaping the future of medicine. The more inclusive our research, the better our ability to predict, prevent, and treat diseases for everyone.

“So next time you hear about a groundbreaking genetic discovery, ask yourself: ‘Who does this benefit, and who’s being left behind?’ Because science should serve all of humanity, not just a select few.”

The entries were evaluated by 45 experts in the field, who selected three winners in each category, while also awarding 11 honourable mentions over both competition categories.

In their prize citation, DNA Day Co-ordinator Dr Christophe Cordier, ESHG President Professor William Newman and ESHG Education Committee Chair Professor Inga Prokopenko told Tanush: “Your video…has impressed the members of the jury based on its originality, its scientific content, and the fact that you expressed so clearly the benefits and consequences for science and society.

“We do hope that your interest in genetics and DNA will continue to grow over the years and that you will continue to follow the developments in the field, which promise to become more and more spectacular.”

• You can watch Tanush’s video here.

Six Year 13 pupils reached the finals of an Imperial College medical competition, ranking among the top ten teams nationally.

The QE sixth-formers, who mostly hope to become medics and scientists, scored strongly with their innovative approach for treating vasculitis – a rare inflammatory autoimmune condition affecting 40 million people globally.

Biology teacher Hinesh Shah said: “Our team should be extremely proud of what they have achieved, as we all are in the Biology department.

“Thanks to their strong teamwork and organisational skills, they produced an excellent e-poster, which, uniquely, considered financial and economic sustainability, providing sufferers with real-time data and intervention.

“I am sure the skills gained in this competition will aid them in their future careers. Whilst many teams tried to improve current treatment, their bold approach of thinking ‘out of the box’ reflects the skills we are trying to help the students develop,” added Mr Shah, who helped organise their entry into the Science in Medicine Schools Team Prize competition.

The team comprised Hadi Al-Esia, Dhaivat Gohel, Zaki Mustafa, Anshul Nema, Rahul Ranjan, and Jason Tao.

Their scientific poster saw them shortlisted for the finals, where they presented their project to a joint panel of Imperial College professors and representatives from Vasculitis UK, the country’s leading charity for the condition.

Their proposed treatment was a wearable patch that could monitor levels of specific biomarkers in tissue fluid, then treat the affected areas using red light therapy.

Additionally, they designed a companion app that provided an accessible interface for patients to track their current risk level. By using red light therapy instead of standard steroids, the patch avoided many of the harmful side effects that come with sustained use of steroids, which normally feature in treatment for vasculitis.

The team followed a multi-disciplinary approach, with Anshul and Rahul responsible for the data-analysis and companion app design, and Zaki Mustafa calculating the costs of producing sustainably and on a large scale.

Although not among the winners at the finals, the team were praised by the judges for their novel approach, which was both non-invasive and affordable.

As part of their reward for securing a place in the finals, team members received a mentorship session with one of the judges, Professor Frederick Tam, Chair of Renal Medicine at Imperial College.

Team member Jason, who intends to pursue a career in Medicine, said “I really enjoyed the research aspect of the competition – learning in-depth about disease pathways and developing clinical trials made me think about which area of medicine I want to go into.”

Anshul enjoyed the technology side of the project: “Using algorithms and other tools in conjunction with traditional approaches helped me to better understand the wide variety of scenarios in which technology and data can be leveraged effectively.”

And Dhaivat, who plans to study Biomedical Sciences at Imperial College, described Professor Tam’s mentor session as “a great insight into life there… it was something that stuck with me when choosing to commit to Imperial”.

• You can view the poster for the Imperial competition here.

Sixth-former Soham Kale has won a national medical essay competition for a piece of writing that combined humour with a serious look at preventing disease.

Soham took joint first place in the Medic Mentor Magazine National Essay Competition with an essay investigating how mapping human cells could help doctors with both the early detection and the prevention of disease.

Headmaster Neil Enright is among many to have congratulated him on his success. “Soham has shown great originality and skill in putting together an essay that greatly impressed the judges. He aspires to be a doctor: I am sure that he will succeed in this ambition, and that a bright future awaits him in Medicine.”

Soham’s scrupulously referenced essay will be published in the spring edition of Mentor: the magazine produced by Medic Mentor, which is a national medical organisation dedicated to nurturing those who wish to become doctors. The edition will be themed under the heading Under the Microscope.

His writing answered the question How could the detailed mapping of human cells contribute to early disease detection and prevention efforts?

Thanking the judges, Year 12’s Soham said: “This has been such an incredible opportunity to explore the exciting prospects of cell-mapping to both current, and future healthcare. This couldn’t have been possible without all of the support that my inspirational teachers, friends and family have provided me with along the way. Progressing into the future, I will forever cherish this milestone.”

Human cell-mapping was, he said, a topic “completely alien” to him, but he soon got to grips with it, deriving “great satisfaction” as he learned the subject matter by initially “mind-mapping almost random information” and then quickly forming links to join up this information.

In the introduction to his essay, he gave the following example drawn from his daily life to illustrate the importance of such cell-mapping.

“My parents simply refused to use Google Maps when travelling, and then always ended up in the completely wrong place after taking the wrong exit on the motorway roundabout. Taunting them, saying ‘Using Google Maps wouldn’t have hurt’ felt good.

“Notice how my family and I could’ve ended up at two completely different places from the same roundabout? In the same way, the same biological pathway could lead to diseases ranging from schizophrenia to autism.

“All diseases are fundamentally mechanical problems at a genetic and molecular level, interacting with cells via an interconnected biological pathway.

“Cell-mapping (Google Maps) allows us to unravel these biological pathways (roads), creating opportunities for efficient, directed treatment so that my family doesn’t get lost again.”

The whole essay then adopted the language of satnav as Soham set out his argument, from “Proceed to the route” to the final line, “You have arrived at your destination!”

In announcing his victory, Medic Mentor quoted his conclusion, which highlighted the role of human cell-mapping. This has led to “significantly enhanced early disease detection” and to “improved patient outcomes both in the short term through potential earlier diagnosis, and in the long run through the provision of a wider variety of treatment options”, Soham wrote.

• Read Soham’s essay here.

The School’s new pupil-run Biology journal has now been published as a stand-alone publication for the first time.

Featuring articles by six of QE’s senior biologists, Bioquest looks in detail at medical topics, from the effects of ingesting microplastics to HIV immunity, while also examining ethical issues.

The first edition of the magazine was published last academic year within the pages of the Econobethan, the School’s established pupil-run Economics and Politics publication, but the 17-page second issue now stands on its own, published within the Biology section of the eQE portal.

Biology teacher Hinesh Shah said: “My congratulations go to all the contributors: Bioquest is a colourful, interesting read on some fascinating topics. This is an excellent example of free-thinking scholarship, with these six students digging deep into their own areas of academic interest.”

The magazine includes the following articles:

• How are microplastics impacting our digestive pathways? by Shivam Vyas
• Potential autoantibody biomarker to MS, by Hadi Al-Esia
• Cancer-causing viruses, by Seyed Jalili
• HIV immunity and how it has arisen, by Aaron Rodrigo
• How effective and ethically acceptable will immunotherapy be in the future for treating various diseases, by Advik Balaji
• CRISPR and conscience: Shaping immunity, shaping ethics, by Dharm Gajjar.

Dharm is in Year 12. All the other authors are in Year 13.

In their writing, the pupils seek to set out the results of research on their respective topics and to update readers on the latest thinking. In his piece, for example, Seyed begins by saying that although viruses were once seen as the sole cause of human cancers, this has now been “widely disproven”. He charts the development of this understanding, while also including a case study of one virus that is, in fact, carcinogenic, namely hepatitis B.

In the magazine’s final two articles, Advik and Dharm both look at ethical issues arising from gene-editing and immunotherapy, with Advik specifying the changes he believes are necessary in the NHS “to ensure procedures occur ethically”. Dharm reports on the recently developed technique of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and its use to treat people with underlying conditions deriving from genetic mutations, such as cystic fibrosis or polydactyly. While acknowledging its importance, Dharm also highlights the risks: “Ensuring safety throughout the procedure is a must, as a small mistake may have a devastating impact on the individual.”

The boys’ articles all include a bibliography, while several also feature a glossary and  ‘synoptic links’ (showing how the material covered relates to the GCSE and A-level syllabuses).

For the next edition, pupils are being invited to submit cover designs in a new competition. The editorial team, comprising this edition’s authors, write: “We invite our readers to share their creativity and scientific knowledge by designing posters that encapsulate the essence of biological science.”

• Bioquest, edition II, may be read here by anyone with access to eQE.

When Deputy Head Anne Macdonald was watching the BBC’s Our Changing Planet, she was so impressed with the work of the Coral Spawning Laboratory shown in the Restoring Our Reefs episode that she wrote asking for a visit.

The result was a summer trip by 25 senior pupils, who learned about the ground-breaking research at the University of Derby laboratory that aims to save the world’s coral reefs from extinction.

The day-long visit featured two workshops, before ending with the boys playing what Mrs Macdonald described as “perhaps the most complicated board game in history”, through which they learned about how to build a healthy, resilient reef.

“Coral reefs occupy less than 1% of the marine environment, but are home to 25% of all marine life.  They are crucial to marine biodiversity,” said Mrs Macdonald. “They also support a way of life and the livelihoods of millions of people around the world, especially in low-income countries (and so have socio-cultural, economic, and environmental significance).

“The scientists at the Coral Spawning Laboratory are engaged in ground-breaking research with the aim of saving reefs from extinction, specifically in relation to the threats of ocean acidification and warming caused by human-induced changes to the carbon cycle and global warming.

“The aims of this trip included: discovering more about these fascinating ecosystems; seeing first-hand how scientific research is undertaken in a laboratory setting and the positive impacts that uncertain, but ground-breaking, science can yield; supporting boys’ studies for their Biology and Geography A-levels; and providing an opportunity to explore the world of conservation biology, molecular ecology, and marine biology, for those considering taking a degree relevant to these fields. Experiences such as these are invaluable to those aspiring to study science at university.”

The 25 participating students were drawn mainly from the current Year 13, but also from Years 11 and 12. They were accompanied by Mrs Macdonald, a Geography teacher in addition to her role as Deputy Head (Academic), and by Gillian Ridge, who is Head of Biology.

Their visit was hosted by Professor Michael Sweet, professor in molecular ecology and co-founder of the Coral Spawning Laboratory, which is at the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, part of the university’s College of Science and Engineering.

Scientists fear for the survival of coral reefs; their extinction is considered a real and imminent threat.  The work of scientists at the Coral Spawning Laboratory and at universities globally is helping to buy time in the hope that the reefs can be kept in existence while climate mitigation progresses.

As the laboratory’s name suggests, the scientists there are pioneering techniques to maximise coral spawning (including ‘Coral IVF’) and undertaking research to discover the ideal environmental conditions for successful coral fertilisation and growth.

The boys enjoyed a tour of the laboratory, during which they had the opportunity to see the coral-spawning tanks and the new seagrass facility, where scientists recently succeeded in getting seagrass to flower and seed in laboratory conditions.

One workshop focussed on coral biology and threats to corals, specifically coral-bleaching caused by rising ocean temperatures. It included the chance to look at coral through a microscope, identifying the cellular differences between healthy and bleached coral.

The second workshop looked at climate change – at how scientists working collaboratively and with commercial partners can help accelerate the pace of climate-change mitigation and adaptation.

“The boys who attended were very appreciative of this opportunity, with one, for example, expressing interest in the commercial aspects of the team’s work and another enjoying hearing about scientists from different universities working together,” Mrs Macdonald concluded.