Press Release


9 H.S. Students from 5 States Will Compete in SE BioGENEius Challenge


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Posted: Thursday, February 25, 2010

ATLANTA, GA (Feb. 25, 2010) – Nine high school students from five states will compete Monday, March 8, in the Southeastern regional finals of the 2010 sanofi-aventis International BioGENEius Challenge. The competition, conducted by the Biotechnology Institute, recognizes high school students who demonstrate an exemplary understanding of biotechnology through research projects. Two winners will represent the Southeast in the finals in Chicago during the 2010 Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention, May 3-6.

Georgia Bio, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Shionogi Pharma -- hosts of the Southeast competition -- salute this year’s participants. Judging will be held at the CDC. Following are the state finalists and their projects:
  • Florida   -- Morgan Monroe, Esiscopal High School of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Fuel from Fermentation: Combining Clostridium Acetobutylicum and Waste Biomass to Maximize Hydrogen
  • Florida – Muna Oli, Eastside High School, Gainesville, A Novel Interdisciplinary Application for Personalized Tumor Treatment Using Nanothermal Radiation
  • Georgia – Anne Wang, George Walton Comprehensive High School, Marietta, Developing a pH-Sensitive Fluorescent Dye (GFP) in E. coli for Screening Ionophoric Antibiotics
  • Georgia – Evan Davies, Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, Duluth, Palladium Catalysts applied to Organic Synthesis
  • Louisiana -- Stephanie Axelson, Airline High School, Bossier City, Identification of a New Link in Gene Silencing: Acetylation of the Methyl Binding Protein MeCP2
  • Louisiana – Stephanie Terhoeve, St. Joseph's Academy, Baton Rouge, Rescue of Malformations Caused by Nucleolar Failure in Drosophila melanogaster; a Model for the Human Treacher Collins Syndrome
  • Mississippi - Nickolas Whitehead, Oak Grove High School, Hattiesburg, A Plasmid Construct For The Generation of a Green Flourescent Protein-Tagged Carboxysome Mutant of Halothiobacillus Neapolitanus
  • North Carolina – Stefanie Schwemlein, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, Peptide Ligands as Therapeutic Chelators for the Treatment of Mercury Poisoning
  • North Carolina – Andrew Blonsky, Price Creek Independent School, Chapel Hill, Changing Exhaust Into Oxygen: Could Algae Survive in a Tailpipe?

The sanofi-aventis International BioGENEius Challenge is an annual competition for high school students that recognizes outstanding biotechnology research in healthcare, agriculture and forestry, food processing, mining and the environment, and forensics.

The Biotechnology Institute, which conducts the BioGENEius Challenge, is dedicated to educating teachers, students and the public about the promise and challenges of biotechnology. Through year-round programs, the Institute is creating a base of understanding and awareness about biotechnology among teachers and students –and building the next generation of leaders in the industry. Founded by the biotechnology community in 1998, the Biotechnology Institute is an independent, national nonprofit organization based in Arlington, VA.

Georgia Bio (www.gabio.org) is the private, non-profit association representing more than 300 pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic companies, healthcare systems, universities, research institutes and other organizations involved in the research and development of life sciences products that improve the health and well-being of people, animals and the environment worldwide.