During the Shenandoah Valley Regional Science & Engineering Fair (SVRSEF), three Rockingham County Public Schools students were recognized for their research projects. Each student chose to work on an independent research project.
Pria Dua from Spotswood High School won the Regeneron Biomedical Award, which comes with a prize of $375 for her presentation titled “Exploring the Process of Bacteriophage Isolation and Characterization”. Pria’s investigation simulated bacteriophage hunting and isolation. For bacterial infections, antibiotics have been utilized since WWII. Bacteria will become resistant to synthetic antibiotics. The use of isolated bacteriophages has been studied but not utilized. Bacteriophages infect certain bacteria. The host for this study was an isolated Bacillus species. Two new, uncharacterized viruses infecting this species were locally acquired. Due to its various future uses, the research sought to understand the process and challenges of “phage hunting” today. Pria followed the SEA PHAGES discovery guide to isolate and amplify phages. Process repetition and new solutions were needed to overcome obstacles. The goal is to thoroughly sequence the viruses and add them to a bacteriophage database. The two unique viruses have been named and sequenced using long-read DNA sequencing. PECAAN annotates viral genomes.
Blue Johnson from Turner Ashby High School earned 1st place in the Senior Division for Excellence in Mobility Engineering, a $100 Amazon gift card from the Society of Automotive Engineers, and a bronze award for the science category. In their presentation titled “Effect of Increased Air Chamber Volume of A Suspension Fork on Average Speed,” they demonstrated that air springs rise exponentially, so most air-sprung mountain bike suspension forks require a lot of energy to move past the end of travel. Many cyclists endure painful "bottom out" experiences before finishing their trip due to this expansion. This reduces suspension and rider efficiency. Gravity-specific mountain biking speed depends on suspension performance. Increasing the air chamber volume slows the air spring and may help the rider go faster.
Reese Secord from Turner Ashby High School earned 1st place and $100 cash in the Senior Division from the AFCEA in Medicine and Health and a gold award for the science category for her presentation titled “Course to Creating an Artificial Pancreas”. Scientists have created pumps to aid diabetics, but Reese explored if they could make these devices smarter. Her project used a circuit with different liquids to replicate insulin entering blood to demonstrate pancreatic systems on a wider scale. In her presentation, tap water was used as insulin and distilled water as blood. This model of a pancreas tuning the circuit to adjust the “blood sugar” to the correct levels is used to simulate an artificial pancreas.
