A PUPIL from Dollar Academy has earned a place at the 62nd London International Youth Science Forum following a competition.

Zuzana Hudáčová wowed the judges of The Big Bang Competition with her project called Neurogenesis from Stem Cells.

She investigated the formation of the nervous system that occurs during the formation of the embryo, earning a special recognition.

Problems occur during the formation process, an around one-in-a-thousand chance, can lead to serious neural tube birth defects.

These include spina bifida, anencephaly, encephalocele or iniencephaly.

And Zuzana went further by looking into ground-breaking potential models of treatments in the field of stem cell research, even conducting her own experiments.

The international pupil was due to present at the finals at the London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) as part of a two-week residential programme, however, the coronavirus lockdown cancelled the event.

This annual occasion usually includes lectures and demonstrations from leading scientists and visits to various research centres and scientific institutions.

Instead, she was asked to submit a video presentation from which 50 STEM professionals picked the winners.

And while she will not be able to attend the forum this year, the event has been postponed to 2021 and it is understood the budding scientist will receive a fully funded place for the 15-day programme.

Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK which organises The Big Bang Competition, said: "The judges have been blown away by the quality of entries from all the finalists – not only for their brilliant new ideas but for how eloquently they spoke about them in their videos that were submitted.

"We've also been really impressed with all of the students for their passion and resilience in taking part this year in spite of the hugely challenging circumstances, including some students being in self-isolation during the process.

"Huge congratulations to Zuzana whose innovative project stood out for special recognition.

"It certainly bodes well for the future that the scientists, engineers and inventors of tomorrow are already producing such astute and creative project work – congratulations to all those involved."

Zuzana created her video presentation as she was travelling between Scotland and Slovakia after the academy had to close due to Covid-19.

The five-minute clip was filmed during a 14 day period of mandatory isolation upon her return to her motherland.

Richard Myhill, director of LIYSF, added: "I'm delighted to have the opportunity to welcome Zuzana to LIYSF 2020, which has an incredible line-up of speakers and events this year as we address the theme of Science for Change.

"In addition to learning from some of the world's top scientists, Zuzana will meet students from over 75 countries who share her passion for science."