The Terra NYC STEM Fair is one of the most prestigious science fairs in the country. Its mission is to “create a platform through which student researchers can showcase how they are leading the charge for STEM with their creativity, perseverance, dedication, and innovation” and to “collaboratively facilitate and support the STEM-focused academic momentum of NYC’s great thinkers.” This year, more than 450 high school students in NYC applied to compete in the science fair. 220 projects and 343 students advanced to the Preliminary Round; and 90 projects and 120 students competed in the Finals Round on March 20th & 21st. Science research 2 student Vivian Lee (form V) won Second Award in the Finals Finalist round for the Health and Medicine Sciences category!
In the summer of 2020, Lee spent over 258 hours at Mount Sinai Bone Program Lab at the Icahn School of Medicine with Dr. Tony Yuen and Dr. Sakshi Gera to conduct her project, which aimed to develop a novel therapeutic for COVID-19 patients. “The way that covid binds to cells is almost analogous to a lock and key model, in that the viral attachment protein only fits into specific receptors. Covid infects cells by binding to a protein located on the cell surface known as ACE2. In viral infection, the spike binds to ACE2, which allows the virus to fuse its membrane with the cell membrane, allowing the virus to transfer its RNA into the host cell,” explains Lee. Her project, Usage of Peptides in SARS-CoV-2 Prevention, explored the use of decoy peptides to inhibit viral entry into the host cells by preventing binding between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and its host receptor, ACE2.
As Lee walked 3 miles to and from the lab every day, she noticed the increased inequality across the city due to the pandemic. “I observed and really understood the “Tale of Two Cities.” I came across people sleeping on the streets begging for money with their ill-nutritioned pets. I saw small businesses shut down one by one as a result of the quarantine enforcement. Within ten blocks were the wealthiest areas along Central Park, where the streets were spotless, the air was sweet, and doormen in tailored suits greeted me with a smile and a wave. Inequality made its pervasive influence clearer than ever, motivating me to dive deep into my research, hoping to identify an inexpensive therapeutic solution to fight against the devastating pandemic.”
Mr. Waldman, Lee’s teacher for science research 2, commented, “This is very inspiring news. Research in the sciences gives us the power to study many of the problems the world is facing and the opportunity to solve those problems, but even more importantly it’s about understanding how nature works. It’s great to see students explore science and feed their curiosity. I hope we see more students come to science research to explore their interests!”
There have been multiple approaches to combating the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Lee’s project utilized decoy peptides as a therapeutic for COVID-19 patients, which means that the peptides would help to stop further infection once the virus has infected the body. Unlike DNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, is an RNA virus with a high mutation rate. There have been growing concerns about the efficacy of vaccines or antibodies on mutant viruses, in particular the South African strain and Brazilian strain. On the other hand, one of the advantages of using an ACE2 decoy as a therapeutic for COVID is that as long as the coronavirus uses ACE2 as a receptor to facilitate cell entry, the decoy will act as a competitor for binding, even if the spike protein has a different sequence. The initial lab results of Lee’s research were successful!
Since the emergence of the pandemic in December 2019, NYC has seen over 2,150,604 cases and 53,529 deaths. Lee concluded, “This project is very special to me. NYC has been one of the cities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of small businesses were forced to shut down, many parks were forced to close and were occupied by emergency testing centers, and hospitals were severely understaffed. Our community has lost many loved ones during this time, including siblings, parents, teachers, and essential workers who gave their lives battling on the front lines. The pandemic has magnified every existing inequality in our city and caused the rises of many parallel pandemics. This project is the best gift I can give to my city.”
