United States of America

Muscles, Movement and Microvolts

I had a desire to understand how muscles compensate following a surgery or injury. I competed at Trampoline and Tumbling Nationals months before I discovered I had cancer. A 13 cm x 10 cm x…

Music in My Mind

Systems Software

I attempted to determine if any connection exists between personality as measured by the Big 5 test and music preferences. This was accomplished by test subjects completing the online Big 5…

Mutants of Leucine Rich Receptor Like Kinase Proteins Show Increased Biomass: A Proteomic Study

Fourth Award

Cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes, which are essential for cellulose biosynthesis, are bridged to cortical microtubules that enable them to reach the cell wall by the CESA interactive prot…

MyHealth: A Wearable for Detection, Monitoring, and Control of Parkinsonian Tremor

Third Award

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most commonly seen neurodegenerative diseases in our society. Parkinson’s has no cure and it worsens over time, leading to severe impairments, a smalle…

Nanoimage Characterization of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 Signaling in Bladder Cancer Development

Translational Medical Science

The overall goal of this research is to characterize the functional consequences of mutations in FGFR3 that have been identified in cancer. Fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR) belong t…

Nano Is Novel: Improving Antibiotic Efficacy for S. epidermidis with Structurally Modified Silver

Third Award

With the WHO predicting antibiotic-resistant infections to claim 300 million lives by 2050-a number that exceeds the rates of cancer and heart disease combined-, our society is facing a daun…

Natural Attenuation of the Photo-catalytic Characteristic of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

Disposal of domestic products containing engineered titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NP) result in their release into sewage collection systems and partial discharge into downstream aqua…

Natural Solar: Production of Biofriendly Naturally Produced Solar Panels

Solar energy is a major source of electrical energy in the world, but the existing solar cells can be potentially dangerous, using mercury and other heavy metals that can be dangerous in lar…

Nature-Based Solid Polymer Electrolytes for Improved Safety, Sustainability, and Efficiency in High-Performance Rechargeable Batteries

Sustainable battery innovation is crucial for meeting increasing energy demands. Redesigning battery liquid electrolytes into solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) can drastically improve safety…

Nature vs. Nurture: Do Your Genetics or Environment Affect Your Surface Microbiome More?

Human skin is colonized by millions of microorganisms which help protect the body from harmful viruses and bacteria and keep it healthy. Previous research has shown that the human skin micro…

Nematicidal Activity and Saponin Concentration of Chenopod Extracts

Fourth Award

Nematodes cause significant economic losses in crop production throughout the world and can cause illness in humans and other mammals. The purpose of this study was to determine potential ef…

Neoproterozoic Fault-Bounded Sandstone Injectites in Plutonic Basement Host Rock: An Investigation of Sedimentological Characteristics and Depositional Environment

The purpose of this experiment was to analyze how the density of igneous rock and the rate of injection of liquefied sediment would impact the sedimentary structures created in fault-bounded…

Network Topology and Recovery Phenotype Effects on Social Media Engagement

Systems Software

This experiment was conducted to evaluate different network topologies and phenotypes of people in recovery in order to determine the effects of social media engagement and recovery success…

Neuroengineering B. discoidalis and B. dubia Antennae to Wirelessly Manipulate Locomotion as an Alternative to Robotics

Antennae possessing arthropods have evolved to involuntarily move in the opposite direction of a stimulated antenna, normally allowing the organism to move away from obstacles. We take advan…

New Approach to Prevent Monocyte Dysfunction Associated with Metabolic Diseases

Atherosclerosis, which is the most common cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD), is characterized by the buildup of cholesterol and other fatty substances within arterial walls, a process kn…

New Evidence for a Potential Citalopram Hydrobromide Mediated Mechanism Influencing the Suppression of Serotonergic Neurons during Brain Development

Citalopram hydrobromide, an antidepressant agent found in the drug Celexa, has led to numerous suicide attempts (Schneeweiss, 2010). Suicidal thoughts and actions have been directly associat…

Next Generation Fatty Acid Binding Protein Inhibitors: Computer-Aided Drug Design and Synthesis of Novel Truxillic Acid Diesters for Chronic Pain Inhibition

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design Fourth Award

Demand for non-addictive, tissue-specific pain relief has been growing ever since the IOM confirmed that pain afflicts more Americans than cancer, heart disease, and diabetes combined. In ye…

Next Generation Surgical Tool using Three-Dimensional (3-D) Printing for Cerebral Aneurysm Treatment

This modeling project was based on the use of three dimensional (3-D) printing for the development of a surgical tool to help with the treatment of cerebral aneurysms. Current treatment meth…

Novel Approach to Antibiotics and Antifungals: Testing the Effectiveness of Azadirachta indica Extracts

Fourth Award

Preliminary research has shown that certain natural substances can be used without the fear of a new resistant strain developing. Thus, this project aims to determine the effectiveness of na…

Novel Brine Water-Graphene Based Energy Generation: Engineering the Endless Cycle

Due to the current drought in California, many new desalination plants are being constructed, which fail in that they release water and air pollution, while providing no solution as to where…

Novel Glycerol-Free Biodiesel Production using Enzyme Catalysis

Biodiesel production from vegetable oil and ethanol (EtOH) has become a demonstrated alternative energy source. Current processes convert triglycerides to biodiesel, from which 90 million po…

Novel Inhibitors of Glucose Transporter 1 (GLUT1) for Cancer

Translational Medical Science Second Award

The goal of the project was to identify effective targeted drugs for inhibiting Protein Glucose Transporter 1 (GLUT1). Findings would be a big step towards curing cancer. GLUT1 transports gl…

Novel Machine Learning Algorithms for Early Diagnosis of Melanoma

Third Award

Melanoma, the most lethal and common form of skin cancer, is a type of cancer that develops from the pigment-containing cells known as melanocytes. It has an estimated mortality rate of 63%…

Novel Mosquito Control: A Chemical-free, Low-Cost Approach for Aedes aegypti Reduction via Specific Range Frequency Sweep

Systems Software

Mosquito control is crucial to fighting diseases, such as zika, malaria, and dengue. Extensive research has been done on chemical-free control, such as the use of sound as a means of mosquit…

Novel Nanomedicine Therapy for Multidrug Resistant Cancer

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) cancer decreases the effectiveness of chemotherapy. One primary cause is the overexpression of P-glycoprotein efflux pump (P-gp). Mitotane (MIT) is a very potent P-…

Novel Selection of Enzymes Loaded in Mesoporous Nanoparticle Carrier Engineered to Selectively Target Cancer Cells Using Aptamer

Second Award

Cancer therapies have limitations of selectively delivering cancer-killing agents to cancer cells. After studying apoptosis reactions, I unearthed novel enzymes, Caspase-9 and Cytochrome-C,…

Novel Synthesis of Water-Soluble Paramagnetic Polymer Nanoparticles (Metal Free) for Selective Drug Delivery and Cancer Therapy Applications

Iron oxide based superparamagnetic nanoparticles have the potential for revolutionary breakthroughs in applications such as selective drug delivery or cancer therapy because of the guidance…

Novel TolC Inhibitors: Computer-Aided Drug Discovery for MDR-Conferring Efflux Pumps

Third Award

The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria poses a grave threat to global health. This research aimed to inhibit one of the main cellular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), ce…

Novel Utilizations of Globally Invasive Algal Species: Environmental and Economical Implementations of Fermented Macroalgae

Second Award

Invasive macroalgae impacts coasts, ecosystems, and communities on a global scale, but utilizing this wasteful substance can fulfill future demands and need for sustainable resources. The gr…

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Wind turbines are currently being used as environmentally friendly source of energy and research continues as to how to make the wind turbines more efficient. However there has been an incre…