Pharma students take up the challenge
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Published
02 April 2024
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It’s not often you get the chance to see three teams fighting it out on University Challenge, the long-running quiz show for students. But in a live edition of the game on 13 March, pharmacology students from the University of East London (UEL), University College London (UCL) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) battled it out at UEL’s Stratford Campus.
The three teams of students took turns answering questions on their subject, in a non-televised version of the BBC quiz, with UCL the ultimate winner in a tight contest. UEL came in just behind, in second place. One of the UEL team, Peter Ashdown, a level six pharmacology student, said he’d enjoyed the event very much,
University Challenge was amazing and it was so fun to face off against students from QMUL and UCL. It was also great to hear talks about other students’ experiences.
But there was a serious purpose behind the fun and games. Organised by the universities’ pharmacology societies, it was a chance for students at all three institutions to meet and give presentations about their work. Dr Samir Ayoub, UEL Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology, introduced the event. He began with a brief history of pharmacology at UEL, highlighting the significant contributions of Dr Geoffrey West, a former UEL pharmacology researcher, to the field.
His talk was followed by students from each university giving presentations. From UEL, Peter Ashdown talked about his summer placement at QMUL, organised by the London Interdisciplinary Biosciences Consortium. Among the other speakers was Wendy Gomes, a UEL graduate in pharmacology who’s currently studying for a master’s degree at QMUL. She spoke about her summer placement in India, funded by the UK government’s Turing scheme. Two UEL students, Magela Benedetto and Reece Wilson, discussed their final year research on the use of stem cells for heart disease. Second-year UEL pharmacology student, Szymon Krajewski-Ponczek presented on research he’s been involved in dealing with the importance of computational studies and AI to pharmacology.
Natalia Grzesik, a third-year pharmacology student at QMUL, talked about her research into Alzheimer’s disease. Speaking afterwards, she said, “It’s nice how the presentations were so varied, people were presenting different projects, and talking about placements. It’s really great because it allows more connectivity between the different pathways pharmacology can take, which is crucial. I don’t think most people know about the different things that they can do after this degree.”
Harrish Mathiyalagan, a second-year pharmacology student from QMUL said, “I think it’s really nice that everyone’s really excited about this. It’s a niche degree, so it’s nice to see all the different universities come together and play University Challenge.”
Dr Ayoub was pleased about how the event went, stressing his pride in his students.
He said, “During the oral presentations, our students delivered excellent talks showcasing some of the research and extracurricular activities that they have engaged in. It was truly amazing to see our pharmacology students showcasing their knowledge and skills in pharmacology during the pharmacology University Challenge as they clearly over-preformed the pharmacology students from other universities and have missed first place by a very small margin. Overall, there was an amazing buzz in the room and all the students seemed to enjoy themselves. I am super proud of our students who showed a warm welcome to the other pharmacology students and who were instrumental in the organisation and the smooth running of the event.”