Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012 - (Page 14)

iolog ng B You cove g Dis Bi by Amy Dusto What if you could ﬁnd a way to make cancer treatments more effective? Or answer vital questions about a disease that threatens amphibian populations around the world? Or study DNA to reveal how one species became two? Those are just a few recent advances in biology, and all were made by high school students. In the following snapshots of their work, ﬁve of these students talk about the creativity and persistence their research requires—and the discoveries that have earned them top honors in some of the most prestigious national and international science competitions. ON THE TRAIL OF AN AMPHIBIAN PATHOGEN As a high school freshman in Chandler, Arizona, Scott Boisvert learned that 32 percent of amphibians worldwide are listed as threatened or extinct. Remembering many afternoons of frog-watching near his childhood home in Michigan, he made a decision. “I couldn’t accept the idea that one day my children or grandchildren might not be able to enjoy these same experiences,” he says. “I was inspired to find something that could help.” Scott began a project in the lab of University of Arizona researcher Elizabeth Davidson to see if amphibian population declines were linked to environmental causes. He studied the growth and movement of a particular fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), known to cause a deadly disease in amphibians. Bd is considered a major factor in these creatures’ worldwide decline. For three years, Scott collected water samples from all around the state. “Traipsing down embankments and through prickly underbrush to collect my water samples was an adventure in itself,” he says, “but [so was] finding the water, as we do live in a desert.” In the lab, he analyzed the chemical composition of the samples, including both naturally occurring and human-generated contaminants from sources like erosion, animal life, and industrial or agricultural runoﬀ. He also measured levels of Bd in each sample and tracked the fungus’s growth over time. Scott’s data ultimately identified 11 elements critical in determining the growth of Bd in an aquatic environment: four that inhibit the process and seven that spur it.“I hope the results may be put directly into practice,” he says. For example, scientists could use his work as a guide to identify safe habitats for amphibian relocation, as well as to maintain proper conditions in exhibits or captive breeding programs to prevent Bd infection. In his senior year, Scott worked with the Arizona Game & Fish Department on applications of his research, published an article in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, and , 14 imagine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Reading Tea Leaves
iGEM: Synthetic Biology, Brick by Brick
Young Biologists, Big Discoveries
My Journey to the International Biology Olympiad
Lab Notes
Macro Menagerie
My Summer at SIMR
Selected Opportunities & Resources
The World on Stage
Lessons from Chess
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012