Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
This project’s purpose was to find alternatives to the PET-plastic degrading enzyme ‘PETase’ from vast amounts of existing protein data that function at industrial temperatures (~70°C) for a…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The rapid evolution of pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 and influenza has consistently outpaced traditional monoclonal antibody discovery. Frequent mutations in key antigenic regions enable immu…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Medical AI systems fail on underrepresented populations in ways conventional fairness metrics cannot detect. Existing evaluations report average disparities at fixed thresholds, providing no…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Classified under the Bromodomain-Extra Terminal family, Brd4 plays a crucial role in the transcriptional activation of genes involved in immunity, leading to sterile inflammation and fibrosi…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The human proteome comprises ~20,000 unique proteins, yet only 3,000 are theoretically druggable given current therapeutic methods. Molecular glues (MGs) are therapeutics that eliminate path…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
In Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, a key pathological feature of the is the accumulation of amyloid-ß peptides in the brain, which aggregate to form plaques tha…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Global PET levels contribute significantly to the world's plastic pollution. A promising biotechnological solution that minimizes harmful byproduct release is utilizing enzymatic degradation…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Purpose: Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in women, and while immunotherapies are effective, many patients do not benefit. Current methods to assess tumor immune activity rel…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
A growing body of evidence indicates that P2X7, a homotrimeric ATP-gated ion channel receptor, is a key mediator in neuroinflammatory signaling and cell death pathways in neurodegenerative d…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Alzheimer's disease (AD), a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder, is associated with amyloid-beta aggregation, tau hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and endoplasmic re…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
In all known life, proteins are synthesized on ribosomes. This delicate biochemical process is regulated by a multitude of factors, one of them being the Nascent-polypeptide Associated Compl…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The purpose of this project was to determine if a more thermostable Hemagglutinin H protein could be discovered. The research question is: What is the effect of Protein Engineering methods t…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The clinical translation of CRISPR-Cas9 therapeutics is limited by the risk of unintended "off-target" mutations, which can cause errors like oncogenic chromosomal alterations. Current compu…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, largely due to diagnosis at advanced stages when treatment is limited. Although low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) sc…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Genetic neurodegenerative diseases affect more than 57 million people worldwide. With aging populations, their prevalence is rising, making early prediction critical for enabling timely inte…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
This project aims to better predict cancer dynamics to mitigate the effects of drug resistance. This research project uses a dataset from Kaznatcheev et al., who created an evolutionary game…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Toxoplasma gondii infects up to one-third of the global human population. In its dormant state, this parasite can persist in its host for life. No treatments exist for this chronic stage of…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Glioblastoma Multiforme is the most common aggressive brain tumor and is difficult to treat due to its invasive growth, tumor heterogeneity, and blood-brain barrier. EZH2, an epigenetic regu…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Parkinson's disease (PD) affects over 10 million people globally. It is driven by the intrinsically disordered (IDP) protein a-synuclein (asyn). While asyn's flexibility is functional, it en…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Worldwide, breast cancer kills 700,000 women annually. Although 5 years of tamoxifen (Tam) therapy cuts the risk of progression in half, 40% of patients develop resistance (TamR), driven by…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Systemic inflammatory diseases like cirrhosis, ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and hypertension affect over 1 billion people and are often detected after significant organ damage. Growing evide…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Brain cancer, or glioblastoma, is one of the most aggressive cancers, given the nutrient-dense environment of the brain. This cancer is very deadly, given the significance of the brain for t…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibits substantial heterogeneity in long-term developmental outcomes. Children with similar early symptoms often follow divergent cognitive and adaptive-func…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Despite decades of therapeutic development, most disease-associated proteins remain therapeutically inaccessible. These so-called “undruggable” targets typically lack suitable binding pocket…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) accounts for 13% of acute toxicity cases in the U.S. and remains a primary barrier to pharmaceutical development. While most machine learning models predict…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a five-year survival rate of 12%, driven in part by unresolved mechanisms of therapeutic resistance. While single-cell RNA sequencing has advanced…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Neurodegenerative and intestinal diseases impact millions of people worldwide. Considering their gut-brain axis connection, IGNIS tested the hypothesis of a shared protein target for drug re…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Solid tumors represent approximately 90% of adult human cancers and arise from the uncontrolled growth of cells in tissues or organs. Recently, immunotherapy that boosts the immune system's…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Standard R-CHOP chemotherapy leaves many patients with relapsed or refractory disease, and salvage p…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal cancer with a 90% mortality rate. Standard treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy show high recurrence rates of ~85% due to PD…