International Students Science Fair – U.K 2013

Congratulations to JMSS students Stephanie Garra (Year 12), Trinston Lee (Year 12), and Farhan Rahman (Year 11) who are awarded ‘First Place’ in the category of Scientific Content at ISSF 2013. This was awarded by Dr Dave Hodgson, Associate Professor of Ecology / Director of Education, University of Exeter, UK.

We would also like to thank Mr Peter Thompson for his work in supporting and mentoring Stephanie, Trinstan and Farhan throughout the development of this project, and the following Monash University academics for their assistance and guidance of our 3 students: Dr Elizabeth McGraw, Mr Chris Wilson and Dr Yardenah Brickman.

Our three students worked for almost a year on their project for presentation at the ISSF Convention. Stephanie, Farhan and Trinstan worked on a project which investigates the effects of Wolbachia on the reproduction of fruit flies and the implications for the control of Dengue Fever. Congratulations to Stephanie, Trinstan and Farhan for their outstanding work.

Project Brief: To examine the impact of wolbacchia insertion into common fruit flies as a model for the effects of wolbacchia injections into mosquitoes, and the difference in the effects of particular strains of wolbacchia, wMel and wMelPop.

In 2013 the 9th ISSF Convention was held at Cambourne Science and International Academy held in Camborne, Cornwall, England.  The Science Fair ran from July 11 to 15 2013. Our students were accompanied by Mr Peter Corkill, Mrs Sally Cheah-Johnson, Mr Andrew Chisholm, Dr Robyn Whittle, and Mr Peter Thompson.

Students present a research topic and a poster to over 200 students from science schools around the world. Students are involved in workshops, site visits, keynote presentations and cultural presentations. We learnt a lot from our attendance at the ISSF in Camborne and our experience will inform our preparation and organisation for the hosting of the ISSF at JMSS in 2015.