Homework, exams, music classes and sport - that doesn’t leave much time for the average Year 11 student to invent a device that could help advance genetic research.
But then Aashutosh Sapkota, Angad Singh and Praneel Chugh aren’t your average students.
The John Monash Science School pupils have just been announced as Victorian winners of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) award for their ‘Movement Impeding Device’.
The device helps researchers better analyse zebrafish embryos – which we share almost 80 per cent of our genome with.
Aashutosh Sapkota, Praneel Chugh and Angad Singh are Victorian recipients of an Australian Information Industry Association Award. Source: Sarah Abo / SBS News
“It’s supposed to stop the movement of zebrafish while we observe them,” student Aashutosh said.
“So the problem we had was when we tried to observe them over long periods, let’s say 24, or 36 hours, they’d move around a lot, and there was no way to capture the whole zebrafish all the time.”
Lightbulb moment
The trio came up with the novel idea after working with researchers at Monash University’s FishCore lab and learning there wasn’t a standard procedure to immobilise the zebrafish embryos.
Student Angad said by using a 3D printer they were able to engineer a solution.
“Originally we were in the biology side of it, doing another experiment, but then we realized this problem, and engineering was an interest of all three of us, and we liked this idea of innovating something, and developing something.”
Professor Peter Currie worked closely with the students as they developed their idea.
“Working with high school students is highly renewing, they come with ideas and thoughts completely out of left field,” he said.
“We spend hours and hours and hours injecting our small little fish embryos with a number of things to try and understand why they can regenerate and we can’t. And it is a very intensive activity for the individual research scientist, and what they’ve come up with is a very useful tool that can speed up that process.”
Student Praneel said it was all about teamwork and perseverance.
“We had quite a few prototypes, we had quite a few design changes as well, changing from a screw-based design to a spring-based design. It took around six months.”
Knowing the students were onto something, teachers at their school gave them the time they needed to fine tune their device.
Principal Peter Corkill said: “The boys have actually made a contribution to contemporary research. I don’t know whether, in all honesty, they thought that was going to happen.”
Why Zebrafish?
The tiny creatures are able to regenerate their tissues and organs, opening up all kinds of possibilities for researchers hoping to mimic those regenerative powers in humans.
“The genetic diseases that happen in zebrafish are quite similar to those that happen in humans,” Praneel said.
Humans share almost 80 per cent of their genome with Zebrafish. Source: Getty Images North America
Professor Currie said the students’ device could assist with medical breakthroughs, helping his team understand how to harness regenerative abilities already present in human skin and liver.
“These animals, you cut their spinal cords, they’re paralysed just like we are, normally, but six weeks later, they’re swimming around happily and their spinal cord neurons have regrown and reconnected. If we could understand that, imagine what we could do for people who have quadriplegia,” he said.
“Another big area is heart regeneration. Adult zebrafish have the ability to regenerate their heart after injury, and heart attacks cause the greatest morbidity in the western world. So if we can learn this amazing party trick that the zebrafish have, to regenerate their heart, and use those secrets on our own biology, then we’d be onto a real winner.”
Bright future
Professor Currie said the device was unique in the way it was made, and what opportunities it presented. He hoped the device would give researchers an edge, the world over.
“Really, what happens, when you make these tools, and you publish them in the literature, which is our main way of getting information out, other research scientists across the world see that we’re using a unique tool and they want it too, they want the edge that this brings to their research.”
It also presented an insight into the future of STEM industries in Australia.
“We need more of these bright, talented people. When you meet them, and you see them in action, you understand what that type of an intellect can deliver for your country.”
The next step for the students is competing for the national AIIA award then advancing their device.
“We’re trying to make it more adaptable to more experiments and a lot more available,” Angad said.
“After that, we’ll hopefully try publishing it properly.”
