Justin Tian and Mia Hamilton ’21 are both among the finalists. For the challenge, each student submitted a short video creatively proposing a new application for a protein that would solve a problem of daily life, and explaining the approach they would take to start engineering the protein for that purpose. 

Biotechnology Research teacher Tanya Buxton says, “I’m so proud of these students for taking what we learned in Biotech class in terms of making recombinant DNA and purifying proteins and applying it to a novel situation. They solved interesting problems with engineered protein solutions. In fact, all the projects were amazing … [they were all] excellent technically and these two stood out for their creative presentation quality.”

Justin’s entry proposes a novel solution to a sticky problem: ear wax. He shares, “I tried to think of inconveniences in our everyday lives and came up with the idea of earwax. It amazed me that with just a few minutes of research, I was able to identify an enzyme that could potentially help make earwax easier to remove.” The big takeaway for him, Justin says, is that protein engineering is an exciting field due to its sheer number of practical applications: “There are so many enzymes with so many different functions, and through protein engineering, we can modify these enzymes for use in areas ranging from clothing industries to human therapeutics.” 

Mia, meanwhile, presented an engineered protease that would help break down gluten in the stomach for people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Mia shares, “I’m allergic to nuts, so I’ve always been really interested in allergy therapeutics in my own life. I grew up with a friend who was severely allergic to gluten, so I knew a sort of supplement that eliminates (or at least mitigates) the symptoms of a reaction would be really impactful.” The challenge was engaging for Mia not only because of its fusion of creativity and analysis but also because of its applicability to real-world problems. She says, “I find biotechnology exciting because so much of it demands a type of creativity and problem solving that I haven’t had to use before. I like to think of it as putting nature’s machinery to use for the good of humanity … beyond being really cool to learn about, biotech has the potential to seriously change everyone’s lives for the better.”

Of course, the students weren’t going it alone; Tanya, who Mia describes as “a total savant when it comes to all things Biotech,” helped out by recommending scientific articles and chatting about concepts that they hadn’t gone over in class. 

Want to learn more and support these projects? Check out Justin and Mia’s videos, and cast your vote for a Challenge winner every day from now until December 7.