AUGUST 15, 2024

On August 1, 2024, Isabelle C. ’25 and Julia G. ’25 were named the winners of Genes in Space, a highly competitive, national science competition that invites students and teachers from seventh to twelfth grade to propose a DNA experiment for space. The duo’s proposed experiment won out of 681 submissions from 231 schools across 38 states—945 total student participants—according to the Genes in Space press release.

During a biotechnology class this spring, Director of the Science Research Program and Science Faculty Naomi Kohen, PhD, introduced Genes in Space to her class. Fascinated by the thought of their experiment reaching space, Isabelle and Julia jumped at the chance to compete—and the extra credit Dr. Kohen offered to participants added to the excitement.

“I was really inspired by the opportunity for young people to have such an active role in scientific development and research,” Julia recalled.

Isabelle and Julia began working on the project during the end of spring break, spending a couple of hours a day reading and writing the initial proposal. Isabelle recalled mulling through several ideas, until finally settling on the hypothesis of using phages—viruses that attack bacteria—as therapeutic agents to combat microbial infections in space. The young scientists had had the topic of bacteriophages on the mind, as they had recently learned about them in their biotechnology class.

“Phage research in space is relatively new, so there were a lot of avenues to explore for a proposal. Due to the limited resources in space, a simple but informative experiment would be beneficial, which led to the idea of using SYTOX Green,” Isabelle explained. “Essentially, the idea is to track when phages burst open (i.e. lyse) bacteria in real time using this fluorescent dye, because this dye cannot go through intact membranes. Later on, we added cell-free phage synthesis as part of our proposal, which has implications for phage therapy, a future possible treatment for bacterial infections. Both of these (the tracking of lysis with fluorescence and cell-free phage synthesis) have not yet been done in space…There are a lot of restrictions on what can be done in space, so we had to think of a ‘freeze and fly’ experiment that was limited to sixteen tubes prepared on Earth, since they can't be opened in space. We also had to think of an ambitious experiment, which is what we would do if we had unlimited restrictions.”

During their free periods, Isabelle and Julia would look for an empty classroom to use for their continued research. They explored a plethora of lists of bacteria and phage pairings until finding the perfect fit for their experiment.

Julia added: "Phage therapy itself is a unique approach to bacterial infection treatment that does not include the risk of antibiotic resistance, but I think the real genius of our proposal was the incorporation of Sytox green, a membrane impermeable dye, to measure the rate at which the bacteria was lysed."

Isabelle and Julia’s experiment, titled Real-time Tracking of Phage Production and Lysis in Space, was selected as one of five finalists. Once chosen, they were paired with a mentor in early June. Isabelle and Julia worked with Kayleigh Ingersoll, PhD, a Harvard graduate and Genes in Space student mentor. Isabelle spent an average of an hour every other day developing the experimental details, such as the controls, more thoroughly. Starting in June, Isabelle and Julia met with Kayeigh on a weekly basis to refine their presentation.

“I found that Kayleigh was a big help to work with,” Julia said. “Often we would meet just to discuss what we were working on and to tweak the fine details of our proposal. When preparing the slides for our presentation I think I must have sent her at least five different drafts, but when we eventually settled on our final design (for both the presentation and experiment), I was so proud looking back at what we had accomplished. I found the actual presentation to feel like the natural culmination of all our hard work and honestly really enjoyed it. After all the meeting with Isabelle and Kayleigh, the Q&A afterwards felt simply like a nice discussion of all the details we missed in the presentation.

In July, each finalist group attended the International Space Station (ISS) Research and Development Conference where they were tasked with presenting their proposal to a panel of space and science professionals in Boston, Massachusetts. “Presenting in front of the judges was a bit nerve-wracking, as I am someone who does not enjoy public speaking. Luckily, Julia is a natural!” Isabelle recalled.

“When we won I actually didn’t believe it for the first few seconds, but then of course I was so honored and excited…I think that our greatest tool was perseverance through the workload, the questions, and the actual presentation in front of an audience, the fact that we were able to acknowledge and conquer our challenges really got us through. I also think that our attention to detail while not making the proposal itself overly complex was a real benefit for Genes in Space specifically,” Julia said.

Dr. Kohen accompanied Isabelle and Julia to the conference, along with Science Department Head Mary Beth Spina, PhD. Dr. Kohen and Dr. Spina recalled feeling incredibly proud of the seniors’ thorough research, unwavering dedication, and creative presentation.

“​​It is unbelievably inspirational,” Dr. Kohen said. “When Scott Copeland, the director of ISS research integration at Boeing, presented them with the award he said ‘it's pretty unique, I don't think we have done anything like that.’ It validated how creative their proposal truly is. It is amazing to see high school students use their STEM skills to solve real world problems!”

Isabelle and Julia are both part of Nightingale’s Independent Study Research Program (ISRP), an application-based program open to highly skilled, motivated, and dedicated students of science in Classes XI–XII. In the program, students commit to at least six to eight weeks to intensive science research during the summer between Class XI and Class XII, as well as take two crucial courses: science seminar and biotechnology. It was in these courses that the young scientists cultivated a “STEM and communications foundation needed to have a competitive application,” Dr. Kohen said.

“They not only had a terrific idea, they were able to communicate their idea effectively,” Dr. Kohen explained. “To progress through the competition, they needed to make videos and a presentation in front of top scientists in academia and industry spanning fields of biology and AeroAstro and convince them that their experiment was important and worth conducting. Multiple industry sponsors noted how well Isabelle and Julia conveyed their proposal, whether it was their amazing presentation slides with the terrific animations which they created themselves, or their ability to clarify and defend their proposal to a panel of judges during a Q&A session. Additionally one judge shared that they were particularly impressed with how well Julia and Isabelle complemented each other as teammates and how both contributed to the success of the project.”

This isn’t the first time Nighthawks have excelled in the Genes in Space competition. In 2021, Ilana Propp ’22 and Sophia Tully ’22 won an Honorable Mention award for their proposal on the effect of microgravity on protein folding. Misfolded proteins are responsible for diseases such as Alzeheimers, which has been shown to occur at a greater frequency in astronauts. They focused specifically on chaperone proteins, which themselves are responsible for folding proteins. Ilana and Sophia made it to the semifinalist round out of 630 applicants that year.

According to this year’s press release, “this will be the 12th Genes in Space student experiment performed by astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory, in addition to two program technology demonstration missions. Genes in Space was founded in 2015 as a collaboration between Boeing and miniPCR bio. Since then, the ISS National Laboratory and New England Biolabs have sponsored the program. Previous contest winners have explored phenomena ranging from DNA repair to immune dysfunction and have achieved significant experimental milestones, including the first use of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in space.”

“I really hope that our experiment can advance the way that people can be medicated and fight off bacteria in space,” Julia shared in the press release. “As we look into long-term space travel and the risks that astronauts are already under in enclosed environments, it’s a really important field to be putting our focus into.”

Reflecting on Isabelle and Julia’s impressive achievement, Dr. Spina shared, “from the Lower School onward, our program emphasizes critical thinking, data analysis, hypothesis formation, and the support of ideas with well-developed scientific facts. Julia and Isabelle have exemplified these skills by designing an experiment set to be conducted on the ISS in 2025. Their remarkable accomplishment underscores our commitment to STEM education and preparing students to lead in this field. It is particularly inspiring to see these two young women excel in a traditionally male-dominated arena.”