Winners
spring 2020
First Place
Angela Tran Huynh: "Centrifugation: A New Frontier for Mitochondrial Transfer"
Abstract: The mitochondrion is most notably known as the powerhouse of the cell, but malfunctions of this organelle have underscored its importance in a myriad of aspects. Mitochondrial disease has been linked to cancer, aging, and neurodegenerative illnesses, like dementia. Replacement of the mitochondrion and its genetic material has been the basis of mitochondrial therapy, but studies replacing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have displayed reversion to parental mtDNA. Little is known about the mechanisms underpinning this phenomenon, with it possibly occurring exclusively in humans. Consequently, the transfer of whole mitochondria appears a more viable option: it’s proven to be successfully moved between cells. However, the current methods for horizontal transfer have failed to address maintaining mitochondrial quality, preserving function over longer periods of time, and the conflicting results of uptake. Contrastly, centrifugation has demonstrated to be a simpler and efficient method for mitochondrial transfer and capable of preserving quality over longer periods.
Second Place
Krishnaveni Dole and Puloma Bishnu: "Enzymes for Plastic Degradation"
Abstract: (Poly)ethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used in disposable water bottles, significantly contributes to ocean pollution. An engineered strain of Bacillus tianshenii , a gram-positive, spore-forming, halotolerant bacteria, which would contain the gene for plastic-degrading enzyme PETase, can be utilized for the bioremediation of PET. The bacteria, in their inactive spore form, would be placed alongside dried nutrients underneath a full-length water bottle label. Upon exposure to the high salinity conditions of the ocean, the bacteria would germinate and produce PETase, degrading the bottle and label. Due to limitations of a high school laboratory, proof of concept experiments will be conducted without transforming Bacillus . Producing PETase and Leaf Compost Cutinase, another plastic degrading enzyme, via a cell-free system or expression in E. coli would allow for their use in functional assays to measure the degradation ability of each enzyme on various plastic substrates under differing conditions of temperature and salinity.
Third Place
Sharon Liang and Isabel Zhang: "Successful Organ Transplants: The Method to Long-Term Heart Preservation"
Abstract: Organ preservation is necessary to maintain organ stability during storage so that at reperfusion where the organ is surgically placed in the recipient, the organ functions. In modern day heart transplant preservation, hypothermic storage is implemented where, once removed from the donor, hearts are cooled to and kept at temperature a few degrees above the freezing point until they reach the recipient. However, clinical research from Massachusetts General hospital states that about three out of four donated hearts have to be discarded due to short preservation life. We propose a solution that aims to address this issue and extend the preservation life of heart transplants. Our proposal is to implement a preservation solution composed of cryoprotectants of great potency, little toxicity, and high stability, and to rapidly freeze heart transplants to around -196°C through vitrification.
