S. Barrington teen wins science competition
A South Barrington teen has been named the individual winner of Region III of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, considered to be the nation's premier high school science competition.
Marissa Suchyta, a senior at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School, earned a $3,000 scholarship for her biology project and a berth to the finals next month in New York, where she can compete for the top prize, a $100,000 scholarship.
The competition is sponsored by the Siemens Foundation and is administered by the College Board, best known for administering the SAT, PSAT and Advanced Placement programs.
Saturday's regional took place at the University of Notre Dame, which was among six universities across the country to host a regional. Its contestants emerged from more than 2,000 of the nation's brightest students.
Suchyta's project studied the protein Geminin and its role in preventing DNA from replicating more than one time before a cell divides. She explained that over-replication of DNA can lead to genetic instability, giving rise to cells exhibiting uncontrolled cell division.
Her research potentially could have implications to develop new approaches to treating diseases like cancer.
"During the poster presentation, there were several people who came up and said they'd been diagnosed with cancer," Suchyta said. "It was really inspirational to talk to them. They made my long research process seem worthwhile."
Suchyta began her research nearly two years ago while she was participating in the American Cancer Society's high school research program, working in a lab at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
Suchyta was among Chicago-area high school students who advanced to the regional to measure their math, science or technology projects against some of the best in the Midwest.
They included Arjun Puranik of Palatine, a student at Fremd High School whose project had applications in quantum physics; and Fred Schmitt of Bolingbrook, a student at Naperville Central High School who, with a teammate, studied secretion in the lungs as it relates to treatment in diseases such as asthma and bronchitis.
Fighting cancer is nothing new for Suchyta. She founded the first Midwest chapter of the American Cancer Society's "High Schools Against Cancer" campaign, and began her own nonprofit organization that donates gift baskets to teen oncology patients.
She also has been invited to sit on the board of the Lake County chapter of the American Cancer Society and already presented some of her research at its annual meeting.
"I feel like my all my volunteer work motivates me to work that much harder in the lab," Suchyta said.