June 2020 • DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL 21
another experienced judge (and the most
organized) arrives a few minutes later.
Uh oh – it’s only the three of us this
year. We usually have 5-6 judges and
can divvy up the projects between two
teams. According to our packet, there
are almost 800 projects in 21 categories
ranging from Mathematics and Robotics
to Plant Science. We will be evaluating
the 28 projects in the Biomedical and
Health Sciences category in three hours.
In addition, we have been volunteered to
select a winner for another award – the In
Vitro Society award – because they have
no judges in attendance. So more projects
to review…
The titles are intriguing and eye-catching
– “Starvation for Salvation,” “Slow Your
Voice Down,” “Cracking the Cocaine Code.”
What interesting findings did these titles
represent?! Dr. Sloan was particularly
intrigued by “Developing an Artificial
Pancreas.”
8:50 AM – Families and guests clear
hall, leaving the students in place.
9:00 AM – Let’s get started! It is far
too much fun to visit the projects together;
so although short-handed, we stick
together and commit to being efficient.
The well-dressed, fresh-faced students are
nervously awaiting their interviews. Luckily,
we do not have to jockey for position with
many other judges this year.
In evaluating the students, we look
at a combination of factors – the visual
and verbal presentation style; the
understanding of the science and the
methodology used; and the novelty or
relevance of the questions investigated.
The variety of topics is exhilarating! One
student explains the difference in lung
transplant outcomes with history of donor
cocaine use. Another team demonstrates
a novel computer app that improves
memory in elderly dementia patients.
One standout is a younger 9th grade
student from Plano East Senior High
School, Arjun Yedavalli, presenting “The
Effects of Dilutions of NSAIDs (aspirin;
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)
on the Regeneration of Dugesia tigrina.”
He explains that patients with arthritis
often use NSAIDs for pain control. But
he postulates that this use may actually
inhibit the effectiveness of stem-cell
therapy, which is a promising area of
treatment. His experiment concludes that
various concentrations of NSAIDs disrupt
the regeneration of a pond invertebrate (a
model for adult stem cell regeneration) in a
dose-dependent fashion. His enthusiasm,
excellent grasp of scientific method,
and his explanation of how he overcame
different challenges in his experimental
design impress us.
Another student, Mrigayu Ghosh from
Uplift North Hills High School, presents
“Deriving Cardiac Cells through Direct
Reprogramming Using a Stochastic
Simulation to Determine the Necessary
Transcription Factors and a Suitable
Starting Cell Type.” In order to implement
stem-cell therapy in heart disease,
scientists have typically induced adult
somatic cells into a pluripotent state
and then reprogram the cells to become