Summer scholars at the 2020 symposium

On one scorching February afternoon, it was a relief to enter the doors of Auckland University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences to listen to some excellent student speeches – and enjoy a touch of air con!

On behalf of New Zealand National Eye Centre and The University of Auckland, Professor Trevor Sherwin welcomed 12 summer scholars on stage, plus one via video link from India, to share their learnings in a rapid-fire, four-minute format. Many attendees agreed this year’s judges, Professors Phillipa Poole and Cameron Grant, had a difficult task selecting a winner from the talented group of students. Prof Poole said they were impressed with the students’ hard work and had judged the speeches on how clear and effective the presentations were. “It’s difficult to make such a short presentation and you [students] clearly showed that you have learnt a lot about science,” she said. 

The 2020 symposium winner was second year biomedicine student Fay Abdul Ghani, who delivered a confident and structured speech about her quest to develop a new protocol for the manipulation of gene expression in lens epithelial cells to understand the effect on lens development and transparency. Ghani found using epithelial cells in vitro from younger animals and the orientation of the lens capsule to be critical in the electroporation process. The new protocol can be used to investigate cellular physiology of lens cell differentiation, for example monitoring protein trafficking by live cell imaging, said Ghani.  

Second prize was awarded to fourth year medical student William Xu, who presented on long-term outcomes of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). Xu’s retrospective observational study of IIH symptoms, diagnosis and treatment showed that although visual outcome is excellent with treatment, the disease is associated with significant illness, treatment side effects and repeat lumbar punctures. Ultimately, IIH is a chronic disease, Xu said, requiring an average of 2.5 doctor visits per year for three years.  

Third prize winner was post-grad student Anmol Sandhu, who shared her summer project of growing human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Successfully isolating and growing umbilical cord stem cells could help reduce the need for corneal tissues donations, said Sandhu.  

2020 winners William Xu, Fay Abdul Ghani and Anmol Sandhu

The full list of 2020 Summer Scholars are:

• Fay Abdul Ghani (1st)
• Jyoti Aryal
• Lacey Coulson
• Devanshi Jani
• Matthew Kumove
• Blair Lowry
• Xheida Mani
• Anamitra Nair
• Nikita Noord
• Anmol Sandhu (3rd)
• Jenny Shin
• Michelle Tian
• William Xu (2nd) 

The summer 2020 scholars were funded by Buchanan Ocular Therapeutic Unit, Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund, Ombler Trust, Healthy Older People Foundation, Faculty of Medical and Health Science, Gordon Sanderson Scholarship Fund, School of Medicine Foundation, Tom Cat Fund, Picot Fund and Joan Ready Fund.