30 of the 111 Chemistry projects at ISEF 2026 won a Grand Award. Here's every one, with its abstract.
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry First Award
N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have emerged as excellent spectator ligands in homogeneous catalysis, especially in transfer hydrogenation reactions. Transfer hydrogenation, the reduction of…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry First Award
Obesity has increased to 1 in 8 people globally, causing dangerous comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Many obese adults, particularly in low socio-…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry First Award
6PPD is an antiozonant ubiquitously used in global tire manufacturing that reacts with ground-level ozone to form 6PPD-quinone (6PPDQ). 6PPDQ is a compound acutely lethal to coho salmon—a sp…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Second Award
Environmental contaminants, particularly bisphenols, have become increasingly widespread. As a result, global water pollution has become of greater concern. Water pollution has a profound ef…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Second Award
The healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors play a critical role in combating various diseases affecting human and societal life. One of the diseases affecting many people today is tinea skin…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Second Award
Breast cancer remains the most prevalent malignancy among women worldwide. Dose-dense AC-T chemotherapy (Adriamycin, Cyclophosphamide, and Paclitaxel), a commonly prescribed regimen, is asso…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Second Award
Arsenic contamination in groundwater affects over 200 million people globally. Inorganic arsenic, mainly arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)), is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen,…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Second Award
Ionizable lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are the mainstream delivery mechanisms for mRNA vaccines, with their pH-sensitive protonation facilitating post-endocytic endosomal escape. However, LNPs…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Second Award
Silicon (Si) anodes could revolutionize lithium-ion batteries by expanding capacity eleven-fold. However, Si expansion during charging compromises battery integrity, preventing practical app…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Third Award
With the rapid expansion of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) to EV cars and modern-day electronics, battery waste is projected to reach 8 million tons by 2040. Current recycling approaches, enco…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Third Award
Conventional methanol production relies on a two-step process, where carbon dioxide is first converted into synthesis gas (syngas) and then methanol. This syngas step requires increased ener…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Third Award
Liver fibrosis is a global health crisis, affecting approximately 7.3% of adults worldwide. The disease is progressive, with advanced stages characterized by formation of a permanent extrace…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Third Award
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor. It is associated with poor survival and frequent development of resistance to the first-line chemotherapeutic agent temozolomid…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Third Award
Accurate and rapid analysis of amino acids is essential for metabolomics and disease related biomarker studies. 19F NMR spectroscopy offers high sensitivity and no biological background sign…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Third Award
In this project, uniform Sized SPIONs of various sizes were synthesized in a reverse micelles system under aerial conditions. The variation in size was achieved by varying the loading of iro…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Third Award
The fidelity of DNA is essential for healthy cellular development and proliferation. Mismatched base pairs can arise because of polymerase errors or exposure to genotoxic chemicals. Mismatch…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Third Award
Drug discovery requires an understanding of protein conformations and ligand binding poses. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) can provide this understanding, but it is too slow to sample ess…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Third Award
Peptide cyclization is a common chemical modification of linear peptides, resulting in the formation of cyclized frameworks. Compared to their linear counterparts, cyclic peptides are well k…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
Industrial wastewaters from gold mining and other industries often contain highly toxic cyanide-based compounds that threaten ecosystems and human health. This project bibliographically inve…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
Traditional “best-before” dates on packaged meat are often rough estimates that do not take real storage conditions into account which can increase the risk of consuming spoiled food, posing…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Fourth Award
Metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of 12%. Mesenchymal quadruple negative breast cancer (QNBC) is a mol…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
Oxidative stress is a harmful bodily process which is linked to diseases like cancer and heart disease. Azo dyes have demonstrated bioactivity, specifically antioxidant and antibacterial pro…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Fourth Award
Drug repositioning—the repurposing of existing drugs for new applications—provides high safety but is still limited in gene therapy. As gene therapy research grows globally, safe genome engi…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Fourth Award
Alzheimer’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the hyperphosphorylation of Tau and collapsin response mediator protein-2 (CRMP2), a newly identified and understudied bi…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that poses a serious risk to human health and the environment, affecting an estimated 19 million people worldwide. In aquatic systems, inorganic mercury…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Fourth Award
Silk fibroin is a sustainable biopolymer with extraordinary mechanical properties derived from its hierarchical self-assembly into ß-sheet nanostructures. Biological silk spinning leverages…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
Ammonia fertilizers feed over half of the global population. However, its synthesis through the Haber-Bosch process is extremely unsustainable, leading to over 20% of global chemical CO2 emi…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry Fourth Award
Around the world, 15% of adolescents struggle with mental illnesses affecting mood and behavior. Depression, one of the most common conditions, is diagnosed primarily through clinical evalua…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
In recent years, functional nanostructured materials with high catalytic stability, low cost, and tunable catalytic properties have become excellent alternatives to natural enzymes used as b…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry Fourth Award
Spent coffee ground (SCG) is a globally available powder form waste derived from coffee extraction with a production of 42,000 tons daily. 700,000 tons of synthetic dyes are produced annuall…