Around 100 science students and staff from Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 gathered last week to see Hannah Rhodes-Cheong, a student from the University of Cambridge, talk about the project which had won her the John Ray Trust Science Prize 2016 and to give an insight into her work and her time as a student at the University.

Hannah, a veterinary student in her fourth year of training, spoke about her work, carried out in the third year of her degree, involving research into some of the amazing properties of the protein collagen which makes up about 6% of the human body and acts to hold cells together in much the same way as cement does to bricks in a wall.  Hannah worked with her supervisor to research why another protein, KGF, which is important in the production of collagen, seems to bind to collagen itself and may have implications in the effective delivery of certain cancer drugs.  Her work found specific regions of the molecule that were responsible for this binding and this information may enable researchers in the future to alter the structure of drugs used in cancer treatment to make them more effective.

Hannah went on to talk about her time at university and gave some tips for why going to university to study science is a good idea; ideas ranging from ‘it’s great fun!’ to ‘science is an infinitely variable process’. 

Students at Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form had plenty of questions for Hannah and she was able to speak informally to students after the presentation to pass on advice about applying to university and about student life.

For further details please contact Nick Vosper, Director of Science, Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form

To see the gallery of photos from the presentation, please click here.