Last week was very busy for eight students in our Science Seminar and Research course who expertly presented their research projects in the 2024 MICDS Seminar and Research Exhibition. « The guidelines for these projects were meticulously crafted to encourage students to engage in authentic scientific practices, » said Upper School Science Teacher Stephanie Matteson. « Students were tasked with developing research questions related to their interests, conducting literature reviews, developing methods to conduct research, analyzing the gathered data, and presenting their findings through both written papers and multimedia presentations. »
The goal, set at the beginning of the course, was to introduce the necessary skills to read, conduct, and communicate science. Toward the end of this academic year, each student has achieved that while contributing to the body of science and the efforts to propel the body of science forward. « The culminating pieces of the course were a poster presentation and exhibit of their work, as well as a final research paper, » Matteson explained.
If you entered this class during the semester, you would find a collaborative research lab where all students were versed on their peers’ projects. « We celebrated successes (eight submissions to the St. Louis Science Fair, three honors division semifinalists, and one finalist; four presenters at the SLU ASBMB Symposium, where MICDS research students took the top three places), and failures together, » notes Ms. Matteson.
On Friday, April 26, the eight students proudly presented their final multimedia presentations to faculty, staff, peers, and guest judges Dr. Benjamin Harris, Dr. Angela Sutton, and Dr. Grant Kerr. The judges provided valuable feedback and brought their experience judging collegiate and professional-level posters to the event. Check out some of their projects and discoveries below!
Be-Leaf in the Scientific Method: The Efficacy of Antifungal Plant Defensins in Containing the Spread of Botrytis Cinerea in Leaf Clusters
By Abhinav Katyal ’25
I chose my research project as I was interested in conducting intricate lab work while investigating a larger, global-scale issue like food security. My project is about testing the efficacy of antifungal plant defensins (in varying concentrations: 6 um, 12 um, and 24 um) in restricting the growth of Botrytis Cinerea fungal lesions across the leaf clusters of various plant species (pea, Alaskan pea, strawberry, radish, tomato, pepper, and Wisconsin Fastplant). After growth, the leaf clusters of each plant species were then exposed either to water, fungi only, or fungi + the respective anti-fungal agent. When the incubation period for each leaf cluster was complete, photos were taken and the fungal lesion data was quantified using ImageJ software. My results to date have been inconclusive as I expected the 24 um antifungal solution to be the most effective solution at restricting fungal growth across all plant species. I currently have a new batch of antigungal agents to be delivered from the Danforth Plant Science Center (my previous chemical agents were likely expired) for my five remaining plant batches. I was surprised to see the results of my feasibility trial with the Wisconsin Fastolant and pea plant leaves. However, I have learned to embrace the scientific method, and I am looking forward to continuing the rest of my research project.
The Key to the Future: Unlocking Sustainability and Heat Resistance through Epigenetic Intervention in Arabidopsis Thaliana
By Arjun Puri ’25
After taking AP Biology, I became very interested in genetics, specifically epigenetics, a newer branch of research in genetics. At the beginning of the year, Ms. Matteson introduced to us several different projects that she had arranged with the Danforth Plant Science Center that students would have the option to pursue. One of the options was a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) on transposable elements and their potential as a plant adaptation to global warming, which immediately sparked my fascination.
Unfortunately, most of our results were compromised by fungal or bacterial growth on the plants, which likely happened due to improper maintenance of our sterile technique. Ahead of our second trial, we made several specific procedural changes to improve sterility, which were moderately effective, but many of the plants still died due to the spread of the fungus. The results that we did have could not conclusively prove that the HSE improved the heat resistance of the plants; however, we still gained useful experience in a laboratory setting and conducting research according to the scientific process.
Estimating Prairie Demographics with Drone Imagery
Finding a Commercially Available Oxytocin Receptor Antibody for Mice
By Omkaar Alakkassery ’24
I chose my research project mostly based on what was available in the lab I was working with. I was working with the same technique a lot prior so I chose something that would work with the Western Blot technique. The objective of my project was to find a commercially available Oxytocin Receptor Antibody for mice. This was done with the Western Blot technique which shows the protein expression for the Oxytocin Receptor expression. We were lucky enough to get really good results and high-quality bands in our Western Blot. The presence of these bands and the appearance shows that the antibody we tested worked for mice and that we accomplished our objective—yay! I was honestly really surprised at the quality of the results and really happy with the fact that the bands showed up and were good quality and very clear.
Evaluating Efficiency of MICSD McDonnell Hall and Brauer Hall
By Tanay Goel ’24
I chose to investigate the efficiency and LEED certification rating of the MICDS STEM building. This building has intrigued me since I joined sophomore year, and it was a big reason I chose MICDS in the first place. But due to a lack of data available to be collected because the lead teacher in charge of the STEM building left a few years ago, data transparency was virtually non-existent. So my project took a different turn where we took thermal picture readings of the building and used a VR platform known as Uptale so people could walk through the building at their own pace and understand the structural integrity of the building and where the building is radiating heat, leading to energy loss.
The Undiscovered Carcinogen to Cancer: Analyzing the Effects of Prolonged Durations Under Different Degrees of Natural, Non-Ionizing Radiation in Volvox Carteri Through UV-Induced Mutagenesis to Parallel Human Disease Prevention Studies
By Amisha Poojari ’25
Over the last few months, research in this class has taken several unexpected turns! Along with the class portion of developing research and presentation skills, I was able to experiment with several leads from my experimental results that have led me to discover more about the impacts of natural, non-ionizing radiation in its effect on humans! When we started in the fall, I originally had chosen a project designed by the Danforth Plant Science Institute called Discovering Volvox Development. This project would have allowed me to experiment with the process of UV-induced mutagenesis to potentially discover unknown mutations. The majority of my preliminary research revolved around identifying the scope of evolution in multicellular organisms, since in my case, volvox carteri (v. carteri) would be a representative model organism for multicellularity. Through this, I had decided that my experiment could center around the analysis of various different environmental factors that induce or prevent growth in v. carteri so that I could essentially reconnect those findings back to human development. Since I was planning on using the UV Stratalinker 1800 for replicating a process called UV-induced mutagenesis, I realized I would need to research a little more on some safety measures and protocol, especially since I would be testing in a high school lab setting! When doing so, however, I gained a new understanding of radiation, and more specifically, ultraviolet radiation emitted as daylight. The project I began with had completely changed! Now, it was narrowed down to only one focus: studying the effects of natural, non-ionizing radiation.
Succeeding research carried me through investigating the effects of exposing petri dishes of v. carteri colonies under various different time signatures of daylight radiation. Through my two-week phase of experimentation with the UV Stratalinker 1800, I tested a total of eight petri dishes housing about 160 total v. carteri colonies altogether. My four control petri dishes served as a baseline to show the effect of having no exposure to UV radiation. Results from these trials consistently illustrated healthy cell growth and reproduction over the time period. V. carteri colonies maintained their green pigmentation, cell structure, and reproductive behavior at a normal rate. The other four petri dishes served as my experimental trials. They underwent UV-induced mutagenesis after being placed inside the UV Stratalinker 1800 set to emit daylight radiation. I designed several checkpoints based on typical volvox growth conditions to encompass light-to-dark ratio cycles. This included around four checkpoints over the span of one week. When I eventually compared images recorded during the progression of these checkpoints I was able to draw conclusions stating that the effects of prolonged durations of exposure to daylight radiation directly resulted in expedited cell growth and other unexpected cell conditions including apoptosis and mutations.
These results led into an extended version of my research, arguably the best part! After compiling all of my data and results, I concluded that there was simply no clear cut-off for a safe level of exposure to radiation. I also found several trends over international studies taken to track cancer cases worldwide. Later-aged diagnoses of cancer were prevalent in regions with higher exposure levels to UV radiation. There was also a correlation between the UV index and the gradience of underdeveloped to developed regions reported on the human development index. I was truly amazed to find such a unique correlation amongst all of these factors! Daylight radiation, specifically in its effect on the human population, has been a factor commonly overlooked in research. So, in the future, I hope this research can be expanded upon within an even more professional setting. A few months ago, I would have never expected my research to uncover something to this extent! The research process was surely challenging at times, but now, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity. Recently, I’ve also been drawn towards research within cancer biology, so the unexpected shift in my own research effort was very fitting!
Environmental and Economical Validity of a Hybrid Low CC Vehicle Powered by Gasoline and Brown’s Gas
By Nathaniel Lieser ’24
Investigating MPING-HSE Efficacy for Improving Heat Stress Resistance in Arabidopsis Thaliana
By Sanjana Gandhi ’25
A very special thank you goes to our students’ mentors and partners, Carl Tarricone and the Donald Danforth Education and Outreach Lab, who helped inspire and shepherd our Rams through their fascinating projects! We can’t wait to see what they’ll contribute next to the body of science!