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Wednesday, 21 November 2007

In February, the Dean, Professor George Stewart awarded the inaugural UWA/BAST prize at the 2006 Beijing Youth Science and Technology Competition. A prize of a two-week visit to UWA was awarded to the two students with the most outstanding high school science projects presented at the competition.

The two winners, You Yang and Zhao Shumeng, both from Beijing, arrived in mid-July for lab work in their discipline areas. Yang worked with Professor Howard Mitchell in Physiology; Shumeng was guided by Professor Jim Whelan and Dr Kate Howell in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.

Yang had a chance to work on cells, lungs and muscles and said many methods used at UWA were different from what she was used to in Beijing.

Shumeng spent her time looking at biolistic transformation and quantitative real-time PCR. She said she was interested in further research in the gene energy plant area.

The students had time for excursions, visiting Caversham Wildlife Park and the Aquarium of WA as well as touring Perth and the surrounding area. They were also privileged to hear Professor Barry Marshall give a seminar on his work.

Both students regarded their stay as a "valuable experience" that will have "a significant effect on their futures".

They presented Professor Stewart with a hand-drawn Chinese hanging scroll crafted by You Yang.

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