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Local Delaware Valley Science Fair Winner Earns Special Award at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
Local Doylestown Student Wins Award at Intel ISEF 2015
Society for Science and the Public, in partnership with the Intel Foundation, announced Special Awards of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2015. Student winners are ninth through twelfth graders who earned the right to compete at the Intel ISEF 2015 by winning a top prize at a local, regional, state, or national fair.
American Society for Microbiology Award
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Rachel Swope, 10th grade, Central Bucks West High School.
Project: “Isolation of a Bacteriophage for Staph Aureus from Rumen Fluid.”
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Rachel’s project sought a way to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. She shares the following background and results from her project:
As numerous types of bacteria are beginning to acquire antibiotic resistance and will no longer succumb to certain antibiotics, scientists must look for new means of combating these microbes. One of these potential solutions is the bacteriophage, a type of virus which specifically infects and often kills bacteria. As these are abundant in nature and specialized for a specific type of bacteria, this project involved the isolation of a bacteriophage which could lyse Staphylococcus aureus from the stomach fluid of a dairy cow. This project also aimed to determine the characteristics of this phage. Among other tendencies of this bacteriophage, it was identified that it could also infect and lyse Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and almost seemed more suited to the MRSA than the original strain of Staph aureus for which it was isolated.
Each finalist at the 67th Delaware Valley Science Fairs is one of 14 students who won the opportunity to compete in Intel ISEF in Pittsburgh in May.
About the Delaware Valley Science Fairs
Since 1949, the Delaware Valley Science Fairs have stimulated interest in science, engineering and technology among middle and high school students in the tri-state region. DVSF’s philosophy is that students learn science by doing science. Its mission is to bring together parents, teachers and industry leaders to motivate and nurture young people’s curiosity in science and problem solving as we build lifelong learners.
For more information, visit www.DVSF.org or call Henry Disston, Executive Director, at: 215-895-5840.
