CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Three Charlottetown area students are competing today against the brightest young scientific minds in Atlantic Canada.
Sophie MacDonald, 16, Dylan Cooper, 17, and Helen Shen, 17, will put their talents to the test at the Sanofi Biogenius Canada regional competition at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Sophie’s research focuses on a way to improve drug discovery from a certain type of bacteria.
She’s working with different strains of actino bacteria in the hopes of designing stronger antibiotics for people.
“I wanted to mimic different conditions to match (antibiotics’) natural environment to increase their natural product production,’’ Sophie said. “Humans are becoming resistant to many antibiotics and many drugs because of the amount that they use, so I wanted to find a way to increase the quantity and quality of the drugs.’’
She said 70 per cent of antibiotics are produced by bacteria.
Sophie hopes all her hard work eventually leads to a career in microbiology or biology, or anything science-related.
“Hopefully this has opened a few pathways — a few new doors — so it can lead to different opportunities and maybe scholarships, that kind of thing.’’
And, she hopes her research in some way leads to a healthier society.
“That’s really the point, that I wanted to help people that are having (health issues) and to have an advance in this area.’’
Dylan’s project studies the impact of concussion on neurocognition in teenagers.
“I took participants with a history of concussions and without,’’ Dylan said. “I took the participants and ran them through six basic tests to measure their recognition time, memory, processing of information and then postural balance.’’
He said the results were a little inconclusive.
“For the static posture tests, we found a difference between concussed and non-concussed participants. The concussed group had more errors. People who have a history of concussions ended up having more points taken off.’’
Dylan said he’s had “numerous’’ concussions in his life and was inspired to do some research.
He noted while there has been lots of research into concussions in general, the high school age group hasn’t gotten as much attention.
Dylan said it was a great learning experience.
“I had excellent mentors . . . who helped me learn more than I ever would have in a classroom,’’ he said.
Helen will be presenting her work on designing genes.
“My project is basically to create a genetic tool, to design genes to correct certain genetic mutations,’’ Helen said. “The technique is called a molecular cloning and it’s like a cut-and-paste of genes.’’
Helen thinks her future may lie in this field.
“I am fascinated by the way it explains things and solves problems, so I think my future career might be in a scientific field.’’
What distinguishes the Sanofi Biogenius Canada competition from science fairs, is that it’s a real-life experience for participants, who pursue groundbreaking research projects with leading-edge researchers.
Through their participation in the program, the students are given access to a network that extends far beyond the classroom.
