West Babylon Senior High School students visited the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Dec. 7 to conduct X-ray protein crystallography under the guidance of teacher Andrea Durbin.

As a part of BNL’s Student Partnership for Advanced Research and Knowledge program, high schoolers joined students from Longwood, Islip, Eastport-South Manor, Connetquot and Harborfields in a collaborative effort to study and resolve the 3D structure of proteins that are currently unknown. Proteins are organic compounds that are responsible for many functions within living organisms. The protein being studied by the West Babylon students was one that may have a role in individuals with cystic fibrosis.

The SPARK program allows high school students to work directly with BNL's scientists. Participants obtain real research experience while utilizing BNL’s cutting-edge facilities. Once completed, the research conducted by these students will be published in a national database as well as presented at a symposium at the end of the year to Brookhaven’s scientific community. West Babylon Senior High School students involved included Nicole Rex, Joel Colas, Julian Cruz, Maria Moreno Lopez, Erin Fider, Nandini Ramesh, Dheera Misra, Melanie Jastrzebski and Saad Syed.

Date Added: 12/13/2024