Five Towns students earn Siemens prizes

A dozen Hewlett High School students were named regional finalists and semifinalists in the 2013-2014 Siemens Math, Science and Technology Competition. Lawrence High student Krishana Raghubeer was named a Siemens semifinalist.
Regional finalists
Michael Green, Ayman Haider and Stephen Ng. Project: Novel FyPP Protein Phosphatase 2A with Puroindoline B Domain Binds to Phytochromes in Ceratopteris richardii. The students isolated and characterized a gene from the fern Ceratopteris richardii that encodes for a novel chimeric enzyme never before identified in the Plant Kingdom. This enzyme has the potent to link the light, auxin (plant hormone) and defense signaling pathways together, allowing the plant to easily coordinate multiple responses upon stimulated.
Priyanka Wadgaonkar, JiaWen Pei and Zainab Mahmood. Project: The Isolation and Characterization of an Ozone Responsive Stress Related Protein (OZS) in Ceratopteris richardii. The students utilized the fern Ceratopteris richardii as a model system to study a gene (OZS) that is believed to play a role in abiotic stress. They analyzed the structure of the encoded protein and showed that the gene plays a significant role in a plant’s susceptibility to ozone pollution. Their research can lead to crops more tolerant to ozone.
Semifinalists
Samantha DiSalvo, Ryan Kenny and Amy Vitha. Project: Utilization of the Gametophytes of Ceratopteris richardii to Characterize the LPS-Induced Hypersensitive Response in Plants.
Many bacterial pathogens cause substantial crop loss globally. The students developed a system to study the mechanism of plant cell immunity initiated by specific components (lipopolysaccharides or LPS) of bacteria. They also identified and characterized many genes involved in plant response. Their work could lead to crops that become resistant to bacterial pathogens.