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CCVI students take gold, silver and bronze at Canada-Wide Science Fair

For Immediate Release
May 27, 2016

GUELPH, Ontario – Three students from Centennial CVI have come home from the national science fair with medals and multiple awards.

The 55th edition of the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) was held last week in Montreal. The event is the finale in the National Science Fair Network, featuring 485 of the country’s top young scientists.

CWSF brings science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) out of the classroom, encouraging students in grades 7 to 12 to find solutions to real world issues.

CCVI students Devanshi, Owen and Allison earned their spots at CWSF after winning at the Waterloo-Wellington Science and Engineering Fair in April. 

Their success continued at the national level.

Among numerous awards, including the Manning Innovation Achievement Award, Devanshi won gold for her project, “A Biosensor for the Detection of Microbial Contamination,” competing in the Senior category of the Energy challenge. Her research was done and mentored at the University of Guelph in Dr. Praveen Saxena’s lab.

“Every year, millions of people get food poisoning — causing complications and negative effects to their health. One of the main reasons for this is because fungal contamination is not always visible. So this year, I worked on developing a sensor to detect fungal growth in food and the environment before visible signs are present,” said Devanshi in a press release about the awards. As part of her CWSF prizes, Devanshi will head to the Weizmann Institute in Israel for a summer lab internship. You can read more about Devanshi’s project and awards on the CWSF website.

Owen was awarded a silver medal in the Senior-Discovery challenge for his project, “Detection of DNA Integration in Tardigrades after Anhydrobiosis,” which looks at the possible link between a process called anhydrobiosis and the uptake of foreign DNA. Owen received support in the form of advice and reagents from Dr. Mark Baker at the University of Guelph (Cellular and Molecular Biology) and received assistance for imaging from Dr. Michaela Stryder-Kypke’s Molecular and Cellular Imaging Facility at the U of G. You can read more about Owen’s project and awards on the CWSF website.

Allison won a bronze medal in the Intermediate-Energy challenge for her project, “Influence of Habitat on Cellobiase Activity in Mushrooms,” which examines ways to make biofuel production more efficient. As part of her prize package, Allison was awarded the Australian National Youth Science Forum Award $1,000 and an opportunity to attend the forum in Canberra, Australia, in January. You can read more about Allison’s project and awards here.

Owen and Allison were mentored on weekends and weeknights by teacher Doug Gajic in the CCVI biotechnology lab.

Congratulations to Devanshi, Owen and Allison!

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For more information:
Heather Loney, Communications and Community Engagement Officer
Upper Grand District School Board
519-822-4420 ext.725
[email protected]

Categories: News