Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2025
Cellular and Molecular Biology
In 2022, 2.3 million cases of breast cancer were diagnosed worldwide, with approximately 17% classified as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). TNBC is challenging to treat due to the absen…
ISEF · 2025
Chemistry
Heavy metal water contamination, specifically by hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), a carcinogenic byproduct of textile, rubber, and artificial fertilizer production, severely harms marine organi…
ISEF · 2025
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
The purpose of this project was to determine how to maximize the energy produced by a wind turbine. Wind turbines are an effective way to generate power without burning fossil fuels. Burning…
ISEF · 2025
Plant Sciences
Cotton is a cash fiber crop impacting the economies of over 80 countries. Salinity, an abiotic stress, is a major issue affecting cotton yield and fiber production. Improving salt tolerance…
ISEF · 2025
Microbiology
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter essential for stress regulation, mood stability, and anxiety reduction. Dietary factors such as artificial and flavors have b…
ISEF · 2025
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Hand-powered generators are essential during natural disasters, military missions, and in developing nations. The paperfuge is a paper centrifuge that uses the supercoiling of string to reac…
ISEF · 2025
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Cancer is a complex disease affecting millions globally, encompassing various types such as breast, pancreatic and brain cancers, each requiring tailored treatment. A crucial enzyme in many…
ISEF · 2025
Animal Sciences
Damage to DNA can have serious health repercussions, like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. However, antioxidants like ascorbic acid (also known as vitamin C) have shown to have positi…
ISEF · 2025
Animal Sciences
This study investigates the potential effects of hunting on the length of bison (Bison bison) bellows, a guttural vocalization which is essential to male-male competition and therefore femal…
ISEF · 2025
Plant Sciences
The limited variety of weed suppression treatments has contributed to herbicide resistance in several invasive species, threatening crop yields and global food security. Allelopathy—the natu…
ISEF · 2025
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
In modern spacecraft, hydrocarbon-based rockets can only reach a Specific Impulse (Isp) of 300-400s. This relatively low efficiency will be an issue on future, long-distance, space missions…
ISEF · 2025
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Toxic methylmercury (MeHg) readily crosses the blood brain and placental barriers, leading to developmental delays and neurological issues particularly with in utero exposure. Upon exposure,…
ISEF · 2025
Biochemistry
Tillandsia recurvata, better known as Texas ball moss, is an epiphyte native to the United States and commonly found in southern states including Texas, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, etc.…
ISEF · 2025
Materials Science
Mechanical recovery oil spill cleanup methods are unable to clean oil that sinks below the surface, and other methods can cause more pollution (in-situ burning). A method that is environment…
ISEF · 2025
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Short-read RNA sequencing is limited by its inability to fully sequence long genetic transcripts, requiring computational reconstruction that often hinders accurate characterization of trans…
ISEF · 2025
Physics and Astronomy
Sound waves are vibrations that travel through a medium and are characterized by frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume). Humans can typically hear between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. A speaker is…
ISEF · 2025
Mathematics
We explore the Euler-Lagrange equations in which tangent spaces have non-coordinate bases. This generalized form is the Boltzmann-Hamel (BH) equation, which contain a term dependent on a coe…
ISEF · 2025
Microbiology
This project explores the effectiveness of coccolithophorid algae and eelgrass in reducing atmospheric CO2 levels through a small-scale carbon capture system. The goal was to design an affor…
ISEF · 2025
Mathematics
This research aimed to explore the behavior of particles in high-energy proton collisions through a Markovian model to identify cohesive patterns and predict particle behavior. One fundament…
ISEF · 2025
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The chemical class, Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), first used in the 1940s for ScotchgardTM and TelfonTM has grown to be a chemical class of 12,039 variants. Recently, health co…
ISEF · 2025
Animal Sciences
Among the partying set of high school students, both alcohol and energy drinks are popular. However, this is a dangerous practice. It would be interesting to know how heart rate is affected…
ISEF · 2025
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Coral reefs are a vital ecosystem that thousands of species rely on. However, with climate changing, coral reefs are struggling. The “Cnidaria” Project serves as a tool for scientists to acc…
ISEF · 2025
Translational Medical Science
Background: Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common form of pancreatic cancer, a cancer with only a 12%-five-year survival rate. PDAC relies on the Human antigen RNA bindi…
ISEF · 2025
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Pancreatic cancer has a low five-year survival rate (<11%), with only 9.7% detected early due to its subtle presentation in imaging. Pancreatic carcinoma typically appears as a poorly enhanc…
ISEF · 2025
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency in DNA is an ongoing problem as a factor behind DNA mutations and various cancers, including colorectal cancer and gliomas. Understanding how to strengthen D…
ISEF · 2025
Plant Sciences
The purpose of this project was to determine which common liquid will kill duckweed the fastest. To test this I dropped two drops of each liquid into each flask containing duckweed for four…
ISEF · 2025
Animal Sciences
Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) in patients under 50 now accounts for 10% of new diagnoses. While unexplained, trends in EOCRC may be related to diet, which is associated with 29% of a…
ISEF · 2025
Animal Sciences
The introduction of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to habitats of the North American river otter has had a profound impact. Exposure to dangerously high levels of these EDCs has led t…
ISEF · 2025
Animal Sciences
Grain-Free foods are becoming an issue in veterinary science today (Bentley, personal communication, Sep. 6, 2024). Grain-free dog foods have been known to cause conditions such as hyperthyr…
ISEF · 2025
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Chromosomal rearrangements caused by mobile transposons (TEs) are implicated in human cancers and neurological disorders. The Ac element of the Ac(Activator)/Ds(Dissociation) TE system, foun…