In their final days of school, five seniors presented findings from their Independent Science Research projects at the 11th annual symposium.

[Click here to view a gallery of photos.]

 

The ISR program is a three-year elective that begins in Grade 10 and offers students a chance to conduct research and work closely with a mentor in the professional world. Students are able to choose their own topic of research from a variety of areas—mathematics, physical sciences, life sciences, social sciences or psychology—and conduct an extensive review of scientific literature on the topic. They perform experiments, analyze data and write a final paper, then present their findings at the symposium.

 

Gabby J. examined mice in her study of addiction and the conditions surrounding relapse. The mice were given saline and cocaine injections in different areas of a three-chamber box. Once they were conditioned to these areas, they were allowed to explore the rooms freely. This allowed Gabby and the other investigators to measure the preference for the drug by the amount of time they spent in the area where they were given cocaine. She found that phosphorylation of S831 on GluA1, a protein present in the brain during drug use, was required to end cocaine-associated behaviors.

 

The subject of Emma D.’s ISR project was acute myeloid leukemia, and specifically the NPM1 mutation that causes AML. This cancer has a low survival rate, largely because of minimal residual disease, “the minute number of cancerous cells remaining in a patient after therapy,” which is hard to detect. In Emma’s study, an assay was successfully created to detect MRD in patients with the NPM1 mutation, which could help doctors prevent more relapses. “This assay is so specific that it has the potential to detect those few cells that are in fact mutated,” Emma wrote.

 

Theodora C. investigated the role of high salt and high sugar diets in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In patients with Alzheimer’s, plaque—made up of Aβ protein and neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein—is built up in the brain and impedes cerebral blood flow. Theodora and her fellow investigators tested how diet affected mice in several experiments related to new objects and rooms to explore, and they found that the results suggested that “a diet consisting of high salt and sugar content leading to conditions such as obesity and hypertension are a causal link to Alzheimer’s disease.”

 

Destini L. studied sickle cell disease, a painful condition affecting around 100,000 Americans. Asthma is a common comorbid condition in patients with SCD, but Destini and her team sought to find out whether inhaled corticosteroids (a medication for asthma) could manage the pain of patients with SCD even without asthma. Patients in the study received either a once-daily inhaled mometasone furoate inhaler (designed to reduce wheezing and breathlessness) or a non-medicated inhaler. Destini found that those who received the medicated inhaler reported lower pain scores and less inflammation.

 

Takami N.’s study revolved around ways to help the visually impaired navigate using multimodal sensors. Takami and her team completed several experiments to see what was the optimal number of motors on the sensors to communicate information about the surroundings, the best area to place the motors, what kind of patterns in vibrations worked best and how many sensors to use. She found that having a configuration of three devices (two side devices on the person’s wrist and one front-facing device on the left knee) worked best when navigating a hallway.

 

“It has been a pleasure to work with such a dedicated, capable and resilient group of young women,” said Colm O’Mahony, ISR advisor and science teacher.