CAREERS & EDUCATION
From Issue #18
Bright Young Minds
Canada Students Win Big At International Science Fair
Canada came out on top
during the 54th Intel
International Science and
Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF),
held this year in Portland,
Oregon . Among the top
winners were Arif Awan,
of Montreal, Quebec and
Hamza Bari, of St. Laurent,
Quebec for their joint project,
SARS: There is a Cure!
Since the 1950’s, The Intel
ISEF has offered over 1,200
students from 38 countries the
chance to compete for $3 million
in prizes, scholarships, tuition grants,
internships and field trips. The grade 11 students
were selected as one of four winners of the
Manning Young Canadian Innovators award,
which offers a $4,500 cash prize.
Awan and Baran’s joint project investigates ways
to design inhibitors (compounds or peptides –
chains of protein) for the SARS virus, using
computational structure-based techniques. Awan
and Baran’s research concluded that two of the
10 compounds they selected as having potential
as proficient inhibitors would be more potent and
specific than the inhibitors currently used to
control the SARS virus. The project also won a
Gold Medal in the Senior Biotechnology Division
at Intel ISEF, which offers a cash prize of $1,500,
and two scholarships; a $10,000 grant to attend
the University of Saskatchewan and a $2,000
entrance scholarship at the University of
Western Ontario.
Nathaniel Ibey, grade 12, Parry Sound, Ontario
and Blair Walker, grade 12, Beamsville, Ontario
were also Senior Biotechnology Division Gold
Winners for their joint project, Antifreeze
Proteins: An Aid for Organism Survival, and
Nimmy Thakolkaran, grade 12, Toronto, Ontario
and Shirley Ho, grade 12, Toronto, Ontario, were
named Manning Achievement Award Winners at
the Fair for their project, Inducing Resistance in
Peas against Mycosphaerella Pinodes.
Thakolkaran and Ho received the $500 award
for their research into Mycosphaerella Pinodes,
a virulent fungus strain that is the one of the
causes of the most serious diseases affecting
the field pea in Western Canada.
Hamza Bari (above) and Arif Awan like most
17 year olds enjoy hanging with their friends and playing
a good video game, but unlike some, in their spare time
they research cures for deadly infectious diseases!
