Seventeen students from Bedford School have taken part in pioneering medical research that could help change the lives of children around the world.
The pupils have been working with scientists from the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge to help identify all of the genes in the Human Whipworm genome – a process known as annotation. Human Whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) is one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and affects millions of children in third world countries who typically have to cope with very poor sanitation.
Laurence Pleuger, one of the students at the school, was identified as one of the top annotators on the project and has been invited to go and work with the scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge over the summer.
Mrs Mainstone, Laurence’s Biology teacher, said: “Laurence has taken the time to fully understand the data and program that we have been using and has given his time to explain his knowledge to other students. He has annotated the genome in his own time and I am delighted that his knowledge and time have been recognised.”