Ella-Cuthbert

[Music plays and photographs flash through of young students]

[An Australian map and text appears: BHP Billiton Foundation Science and Engineering Awards 2018]

[Image changes to show a distant view of Ella running in the parkland and then the image changes to show Ella walking towards the camera and then smiling at the camera]

Ella Cuthbert: Hi my name is Ella Cuthbert. I am in Year 9 at Lyneham High and my project was seeing if honey bee silk was antimicrobial. 

[Image changes to show Ella seated on a swing and talking to the camera] 

My project was seeing if the silk made by honey bees had the ability to kill bacteria. 

[Image changes to show Ella swinging high on a swing and then the image changes to show Ella seated on the swing talking to the camera]

There was two parts to conducting it. First, we had to identify what peptides in the silk protein could be antimicrobial and then we had to combine those with bacteria and see if they actually were antimicrobial or not. 

[Image changes to show Ella sitting on a sofa reading a science book and then the camera zooms in on the pages as she turns them]

Well I designed the peptides from the silk sequence, following the characteristics of an antimicrobial peptide. 

[Image changes to show Ella sitting on a swing talking to the camera and then the image changes to show a close-up of Ella’s face]

Then CSIRO ordered those for me and we combined them with E. coli cells and measured the optical density to see the growth of the bacteria.

[Image changes to show Ella sitting on a swing talking to the camera]

If the peptides were antimicrobial or had antimicrobial properties we could like potentially implement that into biomaterials, so the materials found in the body, like the heart valve or hip replacement or contact lenses and that could reduce infection rates associated with these biomaterials. 

[Image changes to show Ella’s hand turning over the pages of a science book and then the image changes to show a close-up and then a distance view of Ella reading on the sofa]

So, we found there were certain, there was a peptide within the silk sequence that did inhibit the growth of bacteria.

[Music plays and image changes and shows Ella seated on a swing talking to the camera]

So, I spend a lot of time doing sport. I also spend a bit of time doing music. I play the oboe. 

[Images move through of a close-up of hands tying running shoe laces, Ella’s face as she looks down, shoe laces being tied and then Ella running]



One of the things I love doing outside of school is running. I spend a lot of time thinking when I’m running. 

[Camera zooms in on a slow-motion rear view of Ella running]

I have some good ideas when I’m running, for school work, in and out of school. 

[Image changes to show a slow-motion facing view of Ella running and then the image changes to show a normal speed distance rear view of Emma running on an oval]

And I just love it because it makes me really relaxed and it makes me feel really free and really fast and happy.

[Image changes to show Ella sitting on a swing talking to the camera then image changes to show Ella climbing on a rock climbing wall] 

My parents are quite big on rock climbing so that’s sort of become a passion of mine. And we have a rock climbing wall in my garage, so I go and hang out in there quite a bit. 

[Image changes to show Ella sitting on a swing and talking to the camera and then the camera zooms in on Ella’s face]

I think I’ve grown up in a very sciency environment, I mean my friends and family are all scientists and I think they’ve helped with my curiosity of the world and they’ve given me more things to think about. So, I think that’s definitely helped with me being passionate about science. 

[Image changes to show Ella sitting on a sofa reading a science book and then the camera zooms in on the book and then image changes to show a close-up of Ella talking to the camera and smiling]

I love science because I guess it’s so open ended and there’s so many possibilities and it can benefit society in just so many different ways. I definitely want to follow a career path in science. I’m not exactly sure but I want to do something that’s going to change the world. 

[Music plays and an Australian map and text appears: BHP Billiton Foundation, Science and Engineering Awards, 2018]