Hewlett High students place second at science

Senior Meghan Bialt-DeCelie and juniors Benjamin Golbin and Levy Sominsky took second place in the plant science category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh last weekend.
The Hewlett High School students won $1,500 and each of them will have an asteroid and/or a minor planet named for them by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Hewlett High junior Ariel Slepyan, another regional finalist, was also among the 1,700 students from more than 70 countries, regions and territories to take part in the fair.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Terence Bissoondial, a Hewlett High science teacher who leads the Hewlett-Woodmere district’s research program, Bialt-DeCelie, Golbin and Sominsky studied the toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles on plants, Investigating the phytotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles and the mechanism of transport in the prothallial cells of Ceratopteris richardii.
The students isolated a gene (designated CrZIP1) that encodes for a protein that transports zinc. They demonstrated that this transporter plays a role in regulating toxicity to zinc oxide nanoparticles. Their research has implications in developing bio-fortified food or to cope with heavy metal pollution.
Bialt-DeCelie, Golbin and Sominisky were also semifinalists in the he 2014 Siemens in Math, Science and Technology Competition.