Discover+Science+2010

Around 6 months ago, four students were chosen from a year 10 science class to participate in a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. Daniel Lee, Lily Lamb, Fleur Kong and myself (William Caicedo) were chosen to go to the University of Western Sydney in Hawkesbury and use million dollar equipment that sounded like it was straight out of a science fiction comic book. On the first day of entering the new world, we were addressed by some PhD students and scientists and lecturers about what we were here for. They told us that the reason for us being there was so we could perform some experiments to see ‘The effect of a Non Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor drug, Efavirenz, on mammalian L6 progenitor muscle cells.’ If you are baffled by the question they wanted us to answer, you have as much of a clue as to what they were on about as we did. At first we looked at each other, looked at the other participating schools, hoping that at least one of us understood a word of what they just stated. Thankfully the enigma was coming to a sound and solid question due to the lecturers giving us background information and tips on the question and allowed us to research the answer. The basic background is we needed to find the adverse effects the drug ‘Efavirenz’ had on our cells. The drug is used to suspend the growth and spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In the experiments we subdued a certain type of cells from rats in 3 groups, each with a different concentration of the drug. In this we made some alterations to the cells and left the mixture for 24 hours. Then using the multi-million dollar ‘Confocal Microscope’, which did not disappoint, we were able to see the cells and put it on the monitor. Using this we were able to see if the amount of dead cells was proportional to the concentration of Efavirenz given. Our observations and conclusions were presented to a room full of students, PhD students, scientists and business men. This was a truly great experience for us as it honed our knowledge of the world around us and greatly improved our confidence both inside and outside the class room. I would strongly recommend this experience to any wishing to have a deeper understanding and interest in science (and it never hurts to have fun while learning, and miss out on school J ).
 * Discover Science Experience at UWS **

William Caicedo - Year 8 Cumberland High School 2010