Kerr was chosen by judges in the Sanofi Biogenius Canada competition for his research project, “A Novel Approach to Bacterial Isolation for Drug Discovery,” which aims to provide a new resource for the discovery of novel bioactive natural products.
His research was realized with the support of his mentor, Brad Haltli, of the UPEI.
One of the country’s most prestigious science competitions, Sanofi Biogenius Canada pairs young students with academic mentors to pursue real-world research projects.
Many participants in the contest have produced promising scientific breakthroughs.
Kerr receives a cash prize of $2,000, a portion of which will go to his school.
He now moves on to the SBC 2017 National Final in Ottawa, May 8-10.
There, winners of the nine regional competitions will present their work to a panel of scientists for a chance at winning the top prize of $5,000 and a place at the 2017 International BioGENEius Challenge in San Diego this June.
The runners-up of the Atlantic regional contest were Kurtiss Collins and Nora Boone, both of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
