ABU DHABI // The winner of the first “Genes in Space” competition said it was a brilliant opportunity that any high school student in the UAE who likes science should enter.
“Someone’s experiment is going to be in space, so why can’t it be yours?” said Anna-Sophia Boguraev, who gets to witness the rocket launch taking her winning DNA experiment to the International Space Station next year.
The 17-year-old American won the inaugural contest with her proposal to conduct an experiment to find out why astronauts were returning to Earth with weak immune systems.
“I knew I had to come up with a legitimate problem that needed solving,” said the 12th grade student from Bedford, a town an hour’s drive north of New York city.
Anna-Sophia’s interest with the genetic makeup of organisms began with the love of the word and turned into a fascination with an experiment in the fifth grade.
“At first I wanted to be a writer and liked the word Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) – but when I was able to precipitate a fruit’s DNA by just using rubbing alcohol, salt and dish soap I knew this is what I was going to do,” she said.
Although Anna-Sophia’s background in DNA helped her stand out she said the most important thing was the willingness to work hard, put in the research and believe in your proposal.
“Make sure you love your idea and have everyone read it so they can help you with it. You’ll know when you find an idea that will work for you.”
After being picked as one of the five finalists in May Anna-Sophia was mentored by an MIT graduate student for six to eight weeks and was given access to labs at Columbia University in New York city to develop her experiment.
When it was time to present in July she said she knew she had a great proposal but was unsure how it measured up to the other four groups of finalists. “I wanted to take my mind off it so I went for a run around Boston.”
When she finally heard it was her experiment headed to space she said she was shocked. “I thought oh my goodness, something I created is going up in space. How many people get to say that?”
One of the six judges who changed Anna-Sophia’s life that day recommended UAE participants ensure they have the same qualities that made Anna-Sophia’s proposal the overwhelming favourite.
Breton Hornblower of New England Biolabs, a company that develops the enzymes needed for experiments like those in “Genes in Space”, said he had high expectations before the onset of the competition but was blown away by the level of sophistication of the finalists’ proposals.
But the practicality and application of the proposals was even more important than the level of their sophistication, he said.
“While all the experiments were well crafted and very sophisticated in the end it came down to whether or not it could be carried out on the space station within the time frame allowed,” said Mr Hornblower, who holds a PhD in biophysics.
He said it was important the experiment took advantage of the unique conditions on the space station, which included microgravity as well as cosmic radiation.
“It shouldn’t be a great experiment you can do on Earth and carry it out in space just for the sake of doing it in space.”
While winning the competition has probably not hurt Anna-Sophia’s chances of gaining acceptance to the top universities she has applied to, such as Cambridge and Yale, she said how she has changed as a person from the experience was more important.
“It not only made me sure of the career I want but also gave me a level of responsibility which, although stressful at times, has only been a good thing.”
She said the experience had given her a college education’s worth of scientific knowledge which she could do with as she pleased.
“Remember, somebody has to win and if you don’t enter it’s not going to be you.”
tsubaihi@thenational.ae
