As part of National Pathology Week, our members were invited to share a fascinating fact from their specialty for our #Secretsofthelab competition. Charlotte Morgan from Centre of the Cell brought together a group of Centre of the Cell youth members to judge the contest. This is the same organisation that helped us to host the John Oxford lecture and have been a valuable team to work with this National Pathology Week.

Standards were very high this year making it even harder for our secondary school panel to select an overall winner. To make it easier, they were presented a shortlist of five submissions, which covered a range of areas including allergens, data entry and even Diwali.

Our winner

Winner Helen Parsons' post proved triumphant, showcasing the magical shapes that can be found under the microscope. While one young judge called Helen’s post ‘beautiful’, another commented on how it was 'very creative and engaging'. One of the most important criteria for the competition was creating a post that was accessible to our young panel and Helen did this with resounding success. Helen and her team are awarded our £100 restaurant gift voucher – congratulations!

Not our slides but it is truly amazing what you can see under a microscope!! @MusgrovePark we view over 144,000 slides per year in histopathology #secretsofthelab #pathologyweek @RCPath pic.twitter.com/edehNX6fCM

— Helen Parsons (@HelenParsons_1) November 6, 2018

The shortlist 

Competition was tight with Preethi Paul’s international post being a close second. Preethi was commended for her ‘very creative video – especially the music’.

So this happened today. A biopsy showed some foreign body-type crystalline material.. and on polarising the light, voila! It’s Happy Diwali!???#SecretsOfTheLab #Pathology #Pathologists #Histopathology #Polarisinglens

pls excuse the vid shaking?????? pic.twitter.com/QtevNeqjky

— Preethi Paul (@preethijaison) November 8, 2018

Tamara Forster was also a strong contender with her first post ‘relating to many people’, and her second post's pictures ‘linger[ing] in your mind’.

#NationalPathologyWeek
The Immunology Dept @BerksSurreyPath perform over 15k Coeliac screen tests a year.
Did you know that avoiding gluten-containing foodstuffs before testing can lead to false negative blood test results for diagnosis. #secretsofthelab
(Pos endomysial abs) pic.twitter.com/LuXXGLozGl

— Tamara Forster-O (@tforsterorchard) November 5, 2018

A wide range of allergens tested everyday in Immunology ?@BerksSurreyPath? Most unusual combination ever ferret and prawn! What’s yours?#Secretsofthelab #NationalPathologyWeek ?@ASPHFT? pic.twitter.com/sSXtGRe167

— Tamara Forster-O (@tforsterorchard) November 8, 2018

Finally Quarks Lepton’s post amused our young panel who appreciated all the hidden figures within pathology. 

Don't forget that data entry is one of the undervalued #SecretsOfTheLab.

I enter around 3000 biochemistry results and reports a month for @BerksSurreyPath, ranging from vitamin C levels, to the most complex genetic conditions.

It's that crucial final step in Pathology. pic.twitter.com/u0E1Je1v1C

— Quarks Lepton (@QuarksLepton) November 8, 2018

Special mentions

Special mentions also goes to last year’s winner Chris Tiplady who posed a question regarding animal blood count. Poole Healthcare Scientists also caught our eye for their bridge between the study of proteins and the textile industry.

Many thanks to all those who entered! It was a superb selection and our panel of youth members, the College and the general public have loved learning about the diverse and riveting selection of pathology facts that everyone has shared. See you next year  – we can’t wait to see what you come up with!