The 27th Annual High School Research Poster Session

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Winners

Group A: Biological and Health Sciences

  • 1st place award: Merisha Fernando (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Evaluating the Impact of Maternal Inflammation on Fetal Neurodevelopment & ASD
  • ‘Nature's Innovator' award: Sherman Poon and Matthew Tom (Francis Lewis High school)
    The Effects of Chrysanthemum indicum Tea on Caenorhabditis elegans with Diabetes mellitus

Group B: Biological and Health Sciences

  • 1st place award: Feiyang Zhang (Midwood High school)
    The Effect of Muc2 Deficiency in Post-Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Recovery
  • ‘Life Matters' award: Helen Clauss (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Investigating Piezoelectric Scaffolds for Spinal Cord Repair 

Group C: Chemical, Physical, Environmental, and Computational Sciences

  • 1st place award: Jesly Arias (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Structural DNA Nanotechnology: Using a Biocompatible DNA Nanostructure for Drug Delivery Applications
  • ‘Out-of-Box' award : Wesley Chen, Hongye Wei, and Nathan Yuen (Francis Lewis High school)
    The Effects of Different Concentrations of Vitamin C (L-ascorbate) on  Caenorhabditis elegans with CLN3 triple knockout strain

Group D: Chemical, Physical, Environmental, and Computational Sciences

  • 1st place award: Diana Benitez (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Quantifying Carbon Dioxide Flux and Environmental Drivers at Duke Farms
  • ‘Out-of-Box' award: Sukhdeep Kaur (Midwood High school)
    CUL2 & BRCA1 Interactions through PRAME in NCL

Group E: Chemical, Physical, Environmental, and Computational Sciences

  • 1st place award: Cholco Chan and Whaley Lin (Midwood High school)
    Pea Plant Germination Involving Cost-Effective Agricultural Techniques
  • ‘Out-of-Box' award: Jing Huang and Thomas Di Maggio (Francis Lewis High school)
    The Effects of Green Tea on the Prevention of Inhibited Development Caused  by Ethanol Exposure in Zebrafish Embryos

Group F: Chemical, Physical, Environmental, and Computational Sciences

  • 1st place award: Emily Mathew (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Computational Analysis of CDK 4/6 PROTACs: Inducing Degradation of CDK Enzymes in an Effort to More Effectively Treat Drug-Resistant Breast Cancer Emily
  • ‘Out-of-Box' award:  Dean Sanaicela (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Developing a Door Detector to Assist Visually Impaired Individuals

Group G: Chemical, Physical, Environmental, and Computational Sciences

  • 1st place award: Ashley Quito Angamarca, Tian Jin, and Nathalie Zhang (Francis Lewis High school)
    Can Combined Treatment of Ginseng and Omega-3 Exert Synergistic Effects in Alleviating Symptom Severity of C. elegans Alzheimer’s Disease Model?
  • ‘Out-of-Box' award: Alexander Lopez (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Revolutionizing Sustainability: Algae Bioplastics

Group H: Chemical, Physical, Environmental, and Computational Sciences

  • 1st place award: Axel Perez (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    The Development of a Novel Organoboron Building Block for the Preparation of Biologically Important Compounds
  • ‘Out-of-Box' award: Rwda Hagar (Francis Lewis High school)
    The effects of building dams with concrete mixed with burnt cuttlefish bone in Wadi Boaboa on the number of floods there.

Group I: Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • 1st place award: Tomiriz Abdulkhamidova and Ravital Reingold (Midwood High school)
    Manipulating Inattentional Blindness in High Schoolers’ Perception of Environmentally Relevant Images
  • ‘Science is Humanity' award: Darla Murillo (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Axonal Injury and Astroglial Responses in a Mouse Model of Repeated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Group J: Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • 1st place award: Aaron Deng and Zachary Lee (Midwood High school)
    Lombard effect on Monk Parakeets
  • ‘Science is Humanity' award: Denny Ting (Midwood High school)
    The Effect of Facial Attractiveness on Perceived Criminal Sentencing

Group K: Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • 1st place award: Jenny Chen and Kimberly Wu (Francis Lewis High school)
    The Effects of a Combination of Honey and Aloe Vera on the Regeneration of Planaria
  • ‘Science is Humanity' award: Roman Chin (Francis Lewis High school) 
    The Effects of Panax ginseng on the Behavior and Regeneration of Dugesia tigrina

Group L: Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • 1st place award: Afzal Akhtar (Midwood High school)
    The Impact of Self-Efficacy on High School Students' Performance Under Time Stress
  • ‘Science is Humanity' award: Sarah Bandilli (Midwood High school)
    The Effect of Cognitive Vigilance on Isometric Muscle Resistance

Group M: Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • 1st place award: Lehansa Marambage (Jose Marti STEM Academy)
    Using Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing  to Detect and Optimize 911 Stroke Cases
  • ‘Science is Humanity' award: Yahya Hussain (Midwood High school)
    Video Game Desensitization

Group N: Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • 1st place award: Emily Oliner and Daisy Meza Veliz (Midwood High school)
    Iron deficiency and pre-cardiac heart failure
  • ‘Science is Humanity' award: Elif Basaran, Shi Qi Huang and Marcellino Melika (Francis Lewis High school)
    The Dopaminergic Effects of Parkinson’s Affiliated C. elegans When Treated with Lavender and Chamomile Essential Oil

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

“Developing Peptide-Based Inhibitors Designed to Modulate Protein Aggregation”

Ruel Desamero, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Chemistry, City University of New York-York College

Protein aggregation has long been hypothesized as the cause of diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, type II diabetes, and amyloidosis, among others. Many research groups, including ours, have been investigating the mechanism behind the misfolding of proteins, which eventually leads to their self-aggregation. It is hoped that an understating of the mechanism facilitates the development of potential therapeutic approaches. We detail here key in silico and in vitro techniques used to probe the interactions that are necessary to unravel the naturally stable α-helical structures to β-sheets, the hallmark of aggregation. Peptide-based modulators are synthesized using sequences derived from the amyloidogenic regions of the parent peptide or protein. Mutations are systematically introduced to interrogate how they change the amyloidogenic propensity, the tendency to form β-sheets, and the morphology of the aggregates. The results we obtained for Amylin, a peptide associated with type II diabetes, and Serum Amyloid A, whose overproduction leads to amyloidosis, will be presented.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge those who worked to make this event a success:

Chairperson

Jeonghee Kang, Ph.D.

Event Coordinator

Yarim Lee

Judges

Yarim Lee Nora Plante
Jong Lee Andrea Stadler
Kevin Kolack Elizabeth Zollinger
Dan Mace Joao Ribeiro
Peter Lin Sunwoo Lee
Kaleb Stephens Takashi Gokita
Michael Megee Satya Batna
Olivia Lieto Meiling Lu
Mandy Bhagwandee Medinah Joseph
Kleopatra Garo Lumnie Velovic
Ritika Kaul Milana Haripersaud
LeQwan Wilson Binita Pokharel
Nicholas Shlimov Zeinab Mohamed
Luis Guerrero Ayomikun Akinlosotu
Massimo Bianco Jing Lee
James Oates Shenica Springer
Anastajia Melika Anna Makarouna
Kaylee Finch Anya Bly
Rachel Meltsin Graciana Van Dyke
Jenna Diaz

Volunteers

  • Jathziry Cruz
  • Badal  Adhikari
  • Srijana Shrestha
  • Kadijatu Jalloh
  • Jehanna O'Sullivan
  • Chisomebi Emeh
  • Zora Charles
  • Dawa Sherpa
  • Michelle Samuel
  • Vanessa George
  • Emilia Okoh
  • Noelia Guzman
  • Sydni Ming Hill
  • Alexandria Bryant

With support from

  • Office of Institutional Advancement
    Lichele Abear Lucatorto