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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.

Year 12’s Nikhil Banerjee took first prize in a national competition with his five-minute presentation on the ethics of using genome editing to eradicate genetic diseases.

He beat more than 400 entrants – and 11 other finalists – to triumph in the Gresham Oracy Competition run by Gresham College, London’s oldest higher education institute.

The chair of the judging panel, Professor Sarah Hart, said: “Nikhil’s presentation in particular demonstrated a thorough grasp of a complex issue, one of the most challenging ethical debates of our time. His argument was reasoned and powerful.”

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My heartfelt congratulations go to Nikhil on this achievement. The aims of this competition correspond closely with QE’s emphases on nurturing free-thinking scholarship alongside speaking and presentation skills. Our current major building project, The Robert Dudley Studio, a dedicated space for drama and the spoken word, will further increase opportunities for our pupils to develop their proficiency in oracy.”

Nikhil entered the competition after reading about it in the new QE Futures Opportunities Bulletin prepared by Assistant Head (Pupil Destinations) James Kane.

Following his success in the final held at the college’s Barnard’s Inn Hall in Holborn, Nikhil wins £9,250 towards his university tuition and £1,000 for a laptop. QE receives £1,000 to develop its “academic programmes and curricular activities”.

The competition’s questions were set by leading UK lecturers connected to Gresham College and covered subjects ranging from the exploration of space to the role of music in helping ameliorate mental health issues in young people.

The question Nikhil answered was: Could genome editing consign genetic diseases to history and would that be ethical?

He began his presentation with the poetic account of human origins in the book of Genesis – “And so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them,” continuing “And yet science endeavours to go one step further, to defy imperfection, to alleviate prodigious amounts of suffering, and to alter the very make-up of you and me.”

He pointed out that, in one sense, humans had been interfering with DNA for thousands of years, from “domesticating wild animals to selectively breeding plants with better taste”.

What made the new technology different was the huge possibilities it opened up for treating disease. Nikhil outlined the unpredictable effects of editing genes – including death – and the pharmacological causes of those failures. But he was sanguine about the prospects for successfully overcoming such problems.

We should, however, be afraid of the use of the technology beyond the need to treat disease, he said. “What’s to stop us editing our traits – how we look, how strong we are, even how smart we are. What’s to stop the wealthy from buying a perfect genetic make-up?…We would be losing core human values such as unconditional love – loving a person despite their imperfections.”

In his conclusion, Nikhil stated: “The opportunities afforded to us by gene-editing are exciting, but in order for us to harness these, stringent legislation is required, which can only be achieved through a collaborative effort by scientists and ethicists around the world. After all, who are we to decide what way of life is worth living?”

He then immediately responded to questions from the judges.

Modest in his success, Nikhil himself said afterwards: “It was such an honour to make it to the final and I can’t believe that I’ve won against such a competitive field.

“The prize will make a big difference in supporting my further education, and it’s great that my school benefits too as they have supported me throughout this journey.”

Nikhil is pictured with Professor Martin Elliott, Provost at the college, who said: “Through our competition, students were not only able to showcase their oracy skills but also engage with significant academic research that will open them up to new areas of learning.”

Gresham College, the first institute of Higher Education in London, has been providing free public education across the arts and sciences since 1597 and is a registered charity. Through the competition, it aims to showcase the importance of oracy competence and the art of communicating.

The judging panel comprised:

• Professor Sarah Hart – Professor of Geometry at Gresham College
• Deputy Nighat Qureishi – Gresham College Council Member
• Nav Ahmed – Principal Lecturer, Arden University
• Mary-Clare Davies – Director of Global Education, Mulberry School for Girls
• AJ Haseley – Co-Founder & CEO of AYM Media Group

Two Old Elizabethan medics are working with the School to trial an innovative education app that uses AI to support both pupils and their teachers.

QE contemporaries Kavi Samra and Paul Jung (both 2008–2015) have developed Medly AI to help pupils from backgrounds like theirs who may not have access to all the educational resources available to others.

They only started working on the business in August, yet already it has won funding and been accepted into Microsoft’s start-up programme.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We are very pleased to be working with Kavi and Paul as they develop this exciting venture that is showing great potential to support our boys, and other young people, with their consolidation and revision.”

After approaching the School about trialling the app with QE pupils, the pair had a meeting with the Headmaster and with Gillian Ridge and Amy Irvine, Heads of Biology and Chemistry respectively, in which they demonstrated the platform and introduced its teacher mode. “This is where teachers are able to set questions (from a large database, or their own custom questions) to their respective classes for homework, or in a test format,” said Kavi.

Medley AI can then:

• Understand the questions
• Work out how they fit into the curriculum of the subject
• Assign them to a specification point
• Mark the students’ answers.

“From here, the teacher can get in-depth statistical insights into each student’s weak topics, topic by topic and class by class. This then enables them to customise their classroom teaching according to class-wide weak topics and, of course, saves an incredible amount of time in terms of marking student work.

“Both Dr Irvine and Dr Ridge seemed quite impressed and were eager to start using Medly as a resource to save time and understand where their students don’t perform well.”

‘Onboarding’ for the Year 11 group took place before Christmas, and Paul and Kavi will now be working with the Science department. “This will involve teachers setting homework on the platform and providing feedback on what they’d like to see in our teacher mode to help us improve the platform,” said Kavi. “The students will, of course, have access to our base platform, too, in case they wish to do additional learning or practise questions or exams.”

“We’ve always wanted to try to democratise education,” says Kavi. “Medly AI was born from the vision of making quality education accessible and personalised through the power of AI. Both Paul and I noticed throughout our education how people often had advantages from their socio-economic background in terms of educational resources (e.g personal tuition): both of us come from backgrounds that didn’t allow us access to these resources.

“Recognising the gaps in traditional educational systems due to work pressures on teachers and staffing issues, we saw the potential of AI to fill these gaps and therefore conceptualised a platform that could act as a personal tutor, examiner, and classroom assistant, all integrated into one user-friendly interface.”

Paul is responsible for writing code and working on the technical side of the project, while Kavi takes on operations.

After just two months of development, Microsoft admitted Medly AI to its programme, providing Kavi and Paul with mentoring from a business development manager and meeting the costs of the platform up to £150,000. A month later, the project was also accepted into UCL’s Hatchery start-up accelerator, enabling its professional fees for legal, IP and accounting costs to be funded.

Both Paul and Kavi have deep connections with UCL. Paul holds a PhD in Neuropsychiatry from the university, and has an extensive background in coding and teaching. He included AI in his research, on which he has published and given international presentations. He has returned to his medical degree at UCL and is in his final year, completing his MBBS in August.

Kavi, who currently works as a doctor in anaesthetics, completed his medical degree at UCL in 2021 and is a clinical teacher within its medical school: his approaches to using teaching theory in a digital age earned him an Associate Fellowship of Higher Education Award from UCL and he is also one of the youngest recipients of an honorary fellow contract at UCL.

Sixth-former Arnav Sharma is among an élite handful of young scientists selected to compete for a place in the UK national team after his success in the British Biology Olympiad.

Arnav, who was one of eight QE A-level students to win gold medals in last month’s British Biology Olympiad (BBO), will soon be taking part in a virtual selection process to decide who will represent the country in this year’s 32^nd International Biology Olympiad (IBO).

Congratulating him, Biology teacher Andrew Collins said: “Arnav’s success stems from his curiosity to delve into topics of Biology to unravel the precise mechanisms behind concepts. He is motivated by interests which range across a number of topics from the Kreb’s cycle* to the behaviour of ants in a colony, for example. He carries out experiments with care and is able to use his background knowledge to interpret data effectively.”

The national team selection process that he is taking part in is being hosted online by Warwick University’s School of Life Sciences and involves practical and theoretical training and assessments.

Dr Collins added that Arnav’s prowess as a biologist also benefits his classmates: “His enthusiasm sparks lively discussions in lessons and helps stimulate others to read beyond what is covered in the course and make unexpected connections between ideas.”

If he is successful in the national team selection, Arnav will join some of the top pre-university Biology students in the world, undertaking both theory and practical tests alongside young people from more than 60 countries.

Along with Arnav and his fellow gold-medal winners, a further nine boys received silver medals and three took bronze. Thus, 20 of QE’s 21 entrants won medals, while nationally only 25% of the 8,476 competitors were medal-winners. All the QE contestants were from Year 13 and volunteered to take part, competing online from home. They completed two multiple-choice sessions of 45 minutes each.

Biology teacher Mev Armon, who supervised boys on  Zoom, said: “We value the BBO because it gives our students the opportunity to go further than their A-level syllabus, offering them a new level of challenge.”

* The Kreb’s cycle, also known as the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) or citric acid cycle, is the main source of energy for cells and an important part of aerobic respiration.

Experts have been helping QE A-level students see the exciting topical applications of their subjects in the real world in a series of lectures streamed into the School.

Sixth-formers have already enjoyed stimulating day-long sessions on Medicine in Action, Chemistry in Action, Product Design in Action and Geography in Action, with a similar event for Biology due to take place in December.

The training days are run by The Training Partnership, the leading provider of external educational study days in the UK, and would normally be held in London, but are this year being conducted remotely because of Covid-19.

QE’s Head of Technology, Michael Noonan, said that the Product Design A-level students, and even a couple of “enthusiastic non-subject specialists”, enjoyed a “superb day” of lectures. “Favourite amongst the talks attended by students was Pioneering aeronautical innovation by Sam Rogers – an aeronautical engineer working in product development for Gravity Industries, a company who are currently developing a jetpack suit.”

One of the pupils attending, Paul Ofordu, of Year 12, said: “It was amazing to see the application of prototyping, testing and iterative design in such a high-end product development project.”

The Resourcefulness and design lecture, delivered by Kingston University Senior Lecturer Pascal Anson, stimulated a practical activity, pictured. “Here we see some examples of structures which were resourcefully developed by the students using VEX IQ and EDR Robotics game elements – great thinking on their feet!” added Mr Noonan.

Chemistry students gathered in the Main School Hall to hear engaging contributions from speakers who ranged from Andrea Sella, a synthetic chemist and broadcaster, talking about mercury – “the most beautiful element in the periodic table and the most reviled” – to marine engineer Hayley Loren exploring whether nuclear fusion could provide the solution to the world’s energy issues.

Julia Lister, QE’s Head of Chemistry, said: “The engaging Chemistry in Action lectures covered an array of topics. Streaming these lectures took students from key concepts to cutting-edge science and future directions across many applications of the subject.”

The Geography lectures were similarly wide-ranging. One talk, entitled Lessons in sustainability: An explorer’s tale, was by Jason Lewis, the first person to circumnavigate the earth without using motors or sails. Another featured academic Martin Evans, from the University of Manchester, speaking on Landscape Systems in the Anthropocene. And Emily Parry, Head of Geography, highlighted lectures on water insecurity and on how COVID-19 has impacted the Pacific Islands.

“The boys enjoyed the talks, which both built up content covered in their A-level course and extended their knowledge on a range of issues facing the planet,” she said.

“Each lecture was followed with a Q&A session in which the boys could send in questions to the lecturer. Often questions focused around what young people themselves could do to help address some of the issues explored such as climate change, river pollution and how we choose a sustainable future.”

Head of Biology Gillian Ridge said that after the forthcoming Biology in Action day, boys who attend will be invited to give a series of lunchtime presentations to the rest of their year based on the talks.

Eight QE boys have been picked in the top 5% nationally among the thousands who participated in this year’s Intermediate Biology Olympiad.

In fact, 51 of the 56 QE boys who entered the prestigious competition closely connected with the Royal Society of Biology this year achieved recognition for their performances.

Biology teacher Mev Armon said: “It is tremendously encouraging to have this independent confirmation that we have so many able biologists in our Sixth Form. My congratulations go especially to our eight gold-level candidates, whose performances were very impressive indeed.”

The Intermediate Biology Olympiad is open to students in the first year of post-16 education. It aims to test their knowledge of the subject and to encourage them to continue studying the biosciences beyond school.

This year’s lockdown competition involved a one-hour multiple-choice paper to be taken online, with questions covering GCSE topics and content from the first year of the A-level curriculum. The major areas covered: biological molecules; cell structure; the immune system; exchange surfaces; circulatory systems; plant transport; molecular genetics and biodiversity.

In addition, to the eight gold winners, 14 QE boys achieved silver – a level reached by the top 16% of students nationally – and six took bronze. A further 12 boys were ‘highly commended’ and 11 ‘commended’.

Since 2015, the Intermediate Biology Olympiad has been run by UK Biology Competitions, a Special Interest Group of the Royal Society of Biology, which was set up in 2010.

The eight gold winners, all in Year 12, are: Aqif Choudhury; Bhargab Ghoshal; Ari Karthikeyan; Vivek Nair; George Raynor; Rukshaan Selvendira; Arnav Sharma and Paarth Singhal.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has once again excelled in the British Biology Olympiad, with two sixth-formers reaching the final round, which is open only to the top 16 young biologists in the country.

Year 13 pupils Showgo Kimura and Michael Takla were selected from Round 2 for the four-day finals, a series of practical examinations held at Warwick University.

They were among five QE boys who had qualified for Round 2, with the others being fellow sixth-formers Ilan Elango, Milan Hirji and Simon Rey. The five’s qualification placed them in the top 2 per cent of the 7,818 entrants nationwide.

Last year, QE was crowned the best-performing school in the country in the prestigious Olympiad competition, and although it will not be known until later this year if it has repeated this feat, the School is certainly in a strong position, says Biology teacher Mev Armon: it has amassed a total of 14 gold, 16 silver and 15 bronze medals.

Congratulating Showgo and Michael, Mr Armon said: “They have worked for almost two years, developing additional skills outside of the specification at lunch times. I am very proud of them and of all the boys who were awarded medals.”

After returning from Warwick, the pair reflected on the experience. Their preparation included areas such as botany, gel electrophoresis and locust dissections.

Michael said: “I enjoyed the opportunity to improve my practical skills, learning new lab techniques, and being surrounded by other people who were as interested in Biology as I am. I particularly found a practical on the induction of β–galactosidase in E. coli very interesting because it complemented prior knowledge of the regulation of lac operon expression with experimental evidence.”

Showgo added: “Unlike with School practicals, we weren’t given any extra reagent, even if we had used ours up, and this meant it was important to plan before starting. I realised this too late and had almost finished the blood sample provided on making blood smears when I needed more to complete the rest of the examination.

“Although I made other small mistakes throughout the rest of the practicals, I enjoyed all of them, especially the maggot dissection. In this practical, we had to dissect a maggot of roughly 2cm to find the dorsal vessel (the ‘heart’) and apply several drugs to investigate their effects. At first, I kept damaging the heart, but after a few attempts I improved and was able to do the dissection with ease. I didn’t expect practical exams to be as challenging and interesting as they were and I’m sure the skills I gained from them will continue to be useful as I study Natural Sciences at university.”

Vasanth Sritharan (2004-2011) has been placed in the global top 100 in the International Biology Olympiad (IBO). Vasanth was one of only four UK students selected for the international competition in Chinese Taipei, where he was placed 93rd and picked up a bronze medal.

“This is a splendid achievement by Vasanth,” said Headmaster John Marincowitz. “Very few students are chosen to represent their country in these international science Olympiads, so to be placed in the top 100 in the world is a truly excellent result.”

Vasanth competed against 227 IBO finalists; all students of the highest calibre from 60 countries. The competition ran over a week and the competitors were addressed by Taiwan’s Vice President Vincent Siew at the opening ceremony, with Prime Minister Den-Yih Wu paying them a surprise visit for the awards ceremony at the end.

The aim of the Olympiad is to bring together young people from different backgrounds and cultures to compete against each other in an intellectually stimulating and challenging, but friendly and peaceful, environment.

Vasanth has been offered a place to read medicine at Christ’s College, Cambridge, if he secures an A* grade and two As in his A-level results this summer.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has been named the UK’s top school in this year’s British Biology Olympiad.

The School took the prize after its tally of 20 gold medals placed it first in the competition run by the Royal Society of Biology. QE thus ousts St Paul’s School from its accustomed position on the Top School trophy: the independent school took the title in 2013 and has won it every year since, apart from in 2014, when it went to Westminster School.

QE Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to the entire Biology department and to boys who entered this year’s Olympiad. We have some very talented biologists and this is a singular achievement, which is the result of a great deal of hard work on the part of all concerned.”

Head of Biology Gillian Ridge and Biology teacher Mev Armon attended the society’s Education Awards Ceremony at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Savoy Place venue in central London knowing that QE had won the Top School in England prize. However, it was only as the ceremony progressed that they learned that their medal total was more than any school in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, thus making QE the leading School in the UK.

Dr Ridge and Mr Armon were presented with the trophy by Professor Dame Jean Thomas, the society’s President and Dr Andrew Treharne, Chair of UK Biology Competitions, a Special Interest Group of the society set up to organise competitions including the Olympiad.

Mr Armon said: “A number of people came up to us during the event and congratulated Q E on knocking St Paul’s off the top spot!”

A total of 7,590 pupils took part in the Olympiad. In the first round, QE boys won 20 gold medals, 10 silvers, one bronze and three highly commended, which represents a School record.  The 100 top-scoring gold medallists nationwide were invited to take part in round 2. The 100 included seven boys from QE – Year 13 pupils Bushry Basheer, Sam Friend, Santhosh Ganeshamoorthy, Viral Gudiwala, Kavi Shah and Abhishek Srivastava, together with Michael Takla, the highest scorer in Year 12. Bushry performed so well in round 2 that he qualified for the national final of the 2017 Olympiad – only of only 16 finalists nationwide.

Rachel Lambert-Forsyth, Director of Membership and Professional Affairs at the society, said immediately after the event: “The annual Education Awards Ceremony showcases the talent our young biologists possess not just here in the UK but across the world, and it is very encouraging to see more and more students each year engage with our competitions and demonstrate their enthusiasm and passion for the subject.

“I would also like to congratulate not only our student medal winners, but those teachers who engage and enthuse this generation of students through their hard work, dedication and love of the subject. We were delighted to recognise and celebrate them also today.”

Professor Tim Birkhead FRS, a previous winner of the HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award, delivered the keynote lecture about his ongoing research on guillemots, which was warmly received by the audience.