The young women at Northview High School don't have to fend off an alien invasion (like the heroines of the video game Science Girls) but there is one enemy that they are determined to fight: autoimmune rejection.
The device they invented to help in this battle has just won them a regional science contest, and the chance to compete on a national stage.
Annie Chen, Helena Liao and Rupkatha Banerjee, all 10th graders, took first place in the Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision contest. Their invention is a prototype hydrogel film that would wrap the new hearts in transplant recipients. Using nano-particles, the film would deliver a steady supply of anti-rejection drugs.
“These are just very inquisitive bright students,” said their coach, Sara Lepkofker, who teaches honors biology and AP environmental science at Northview. “They looked at different chemicals and what they do, and created this thing on their own.”
More science news: check out the Atlanta Science Festival, happening right now.
Their device is not quite ready for market, since some of the nanotechnology doesn’t yet exist, but their product description sounds impressive: “Upon application to the donor heart, the (nanocomposite hydrogel film) will induce recipient antigen tolerance, ensuring the indefinite protection of cardiac allografts.”
At regular Sunday meetings of a science club for girls, Lepkofker and her high school students help offer insight and suggestions to third grade students at Shakerag Elementary School, a feeder school for Northview. This has probably helped those third graders — Saanvi Shetty, Sruthi Vangavolu and Gauri Shetty — also take a first place prize in regional competition.
The girls all won new tablet computers and the chance to go on to national competition. National winners earn $10,000 in scholarships.
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