Research and Recognition

Maclay Competes At State Science and Engineering Fair

Photo courtesy Keya Patel

From March 31 to April 2, junior Keya Patel and freshman Krish Patel competed at the State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, FLA. 

Keya Patel’s project was titled, “Which PARP Inhibitors are Most Effective on Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)?” DIPG is an aggressive pediatric brain tumor with a 100% fatality rate and lack of effective treatments. Krish Patel, meanwhile, titled his project, “Orthogonal Space Tempering Analysis of Protonation-Driven Conformational Changes in HIV-1 Protease” in computational sciences. He analyzed molecular dynamics simulations to study how the protonation state of Asp25 in HIV-1 protease affects flap closure, providing insights that could inform more effective HIV treatments. 

The competition spanned three days. The first day included registration and the opening ceremony. The next day featured three rounds of judging, where each finalist presented their project to roughly six judges. The final day celebrated winners with awards, placements and scholarships

 “It was really fun competing at State because I got to meet more judges outside Tallahassee and present my research to them,” Keya Patel said. “While it was more nerve-racking, I enjoy meeting new competitors and learning about their research.”

Preparation for science fair included extensive research. Keya Patel did summer research at an FSU research lab where she went multiple times a week for several months. While regionals required a lot of work, there were less major changes to the state presentation. 

Keya Patel earned the Recognition Award for Cellular and Molecular Biology, while Krish Patel received the Florida Science Education Leaders Association Award for Mathematics/Computational Sciences.

“I want to continue research in pediatric cancer,” Keya Patel said. “I want to test new treatment options and concentrations of those treatments on the cancer cells.”