Jo won the Genes Zone in November 2012, here she tells us how she spent her winnings:

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to spend the £500 prize money! I spent £200 printing silk posters of the hi-lights from the “I’m a scientist” round in November, and I posted them out to all of the schools that took part in the Genes zone. I thought the posters would serve as a reminder of how much fun the competition was to the participants and would remind them to take part next year!

I then donated the remaining £300 to Jeans for Genes, specifically for the use in Genes are us. This charity develops educational resources for schools to help educate students about genes and genetic disorders. It’s a fantastic charity, and since winning I have been in touch with Lizzy Bishop, the marketing manager of Jeans for Genes, and we have spoken a lot about how I can get more involved with the charity. I hope to be able to help in the development of these educational resources and even visit school assemblies with her from September.

Thanks so much for the prize money, it has allowed me to become more involved with a really fantastic charity which I feel very passionately about.