2007 Victorian College of Pharmacy Chemistry Challenge

Berenice and Sarah from Methodist Ladies College, 2007 Chemistry Challenge winners

Forty nine talented year eleven students tested their chemistry skills as part of a two-day workshop held at the Victorian College of Pharmacy over the September school holidays.

The challenge was for participants to work out how to make a  moisturising cream. Each teams had the opportunity to gather basic  information in a series of workshops and tutorials. These sessions covered topics such as skin structure and function, and moisturisers, why we use them and how they work. Participants also developed packaging for their products, learning that there is more to labelling than meets the eye.

Aided with this new-found knowledge and a list of ingredients the challenge was on and participants attempted to formulate a moisturiser in a hands-on laboratory session.  There where some fantastic results after much trial end error.

On the second morning participants posed insightful questions as to why their cream had succeeded or failed.

Judges awarded Berenice Cheng and Sarah Tan from the Methodist Ladies College two Nano iPods and congratulated the teams from Melbourne High School, Shelford Girls' Grammar, Beacon Hills College, University High School, Catholic Regional College Sydenham and Penleigh and Essendon Grammar who followed closely behind. Participants where judged on their their success at making a moisturiser cream, a presentation on their findings and the labels they produced.

The Challenge gave students an insight into university-level chemistry and in particular, Pharmaceutical Science. It focused on Medicinal Chemistry, which deals with how drugs work, are designed and made, and Formulation Science, which addresses the making and testing of new pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foods and industrial products. Both Medicinal Chemistry and Formulation Science are major areas of study in the Victorian College of Pharmacy's Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science.