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Catherine Abraham (L6th Wellesley) has recently won Oxford University’s Department of Oncology video competition. This competition requires students to produce a simple, narrated video on an element of the department’s research, which is focused on cancer prevention, diagnosis and therapy.
Her video looked at how telomeres (the ends of chromosomes) are maintained in cancer cells. Normally, they should shorten over a lifetime, but cancer patients have enzymes which maintain the telomeres. The department is studying how to prevent this, through the potential for drugs to inhibit the effect of those enzymes. Catherine had to distil their cutting-edge research into a two-minute video, using just pen and paper for images.
The competition was judged by experts in cancer research and science communication, with her clarity and quality of understanding earning her the top prize. She will visit Oxford in April to collect her trophy and visit the department.
Catherine entered through the College’s Science Society which encourages all aspects of extra-curricular science endeavour, offering student talks and external speakers, as well as Olympiads and essay-competitions.
