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On 8 May 2025, our Head of Science, Andrew Pridmore, visited the University of Leeds to award prizes for the best final year research project poster presentations in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Posters were produced by students completing BSc degrees in Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Biotechnology with Enterprise and Microbiology. Areas of research included viral diseases, cancer biology, biopharmaceuticals, vaccine development and novel targets for antibacterial therapies.
Each poster was assessed by the academic staff, including external examiners, and prizes were awarded for those with the highest scores in each of two categories: laboratory-based research and literature review. The standard was high, but the following were eventually determined to be the best:
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Laboratory research prizes: 1st place: Eleanor Jones-Ford (as pictured on the right) – “Passage to understanding EVA71 VP0 cleavage”. 2nd place (joint): Lewis Stevenson – “Toscana virus: glycoprotein differences between lineages”, 2nd place (joint): Tommy Boyle – “The Role of MUC4 in Ovarian Carcinoma – a computational investigation”.
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Literature / science communication prizes: 1st place: Ella Fewell (as pictured on the right) – “Gain-of-Function Virology: a double-edged sword”. 2nd place: Nick Latham – “The role of SUMOylation in breast cancer regulation”. 3rd place: Wafa Dajani – “The impact of APOBEC3-induced mutations on the evolution of Monkeypox virus”.
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Here's what Ella Fewell, 1st place prize winner for the literature review category, had to say: “I am proud to have been awarded the first place prize for my Literature Research Poster from the University of Leeds, Faculty of Biological Sciences. Writing my dissertation was a challenging yet rewarding process, which I couldn’t have done without the guidance of my supervisor Dr. John Barr and my personal tutor Dr. Chi Trinh. An additional thank you to the sponsor company Don Whitley Scientific for donating the prizes.” - Ella Fewell
We greatly value our relationship with the University of Leeds Faculty of Biological Sciences and always enjoy keeping up to date with the high standard of research ongoing in the School. Dr Chi Trinh, who organizes the poster assessment day each year, thanked DWS for our continued support and commented that the students truly value the prizes as a recognition of their achievement and as something to include in their CVs.
The poster day is also one of the highlights raised by the external examiners in their report, both as an enhanced learning experience for the students and as means of discussing individual projects.
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