Last Tuesday evening, a devilishly good time was had by all at the 2020 Haberdashers’ Aske’s Biology Lecture and Dinner. Sixth form students and teachers from both the Girls’ and Boys’ Schools were invited to attend the event, which for the first time was being held at the Girls’ School. We were proud to welcome our special guest speaker for evening, the multi award winning Prof. Elizabeth Murchison from the University of Cambridge. Her captivating lecture focussed on the enigmatic marsupial known as the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) – a creature who manages to be both ferocious and yet incredibly adorable at the same time! Prof. Murchison’s research has been attempting to unravel the mysterious contagious cancer that is currently devastating the wild Devil populations. The audience were whisked away ‘down under’ in a talk that covered cell biology, pathology, ecology, genome sequencing and conservation. What better way to exemplify the broad and multi-faceted nature of contemporary biology research?

Lower Sixth student Maha described the talk as “both thought-provoking and fascinating”. Tania added that she “didn’t realise that such a niche topic could have so many sides to it”. Priya remarked that it certainly “inspired her to look more into research”.

A dinner and quiz followed the lecture, leaving both the stomachs and grey matter of those attending well and truly sated.

We express our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Murchison for visiting and donating her time and expertise. The teachers and students got to witness an eminent scientist who was clearly genuinely passionate about her research and whose enthusiasm for Biology was most definitely, as it were, infectious!