Senior Pristine Onuoha calmly stepped onto the podium and into the spotlight, before turning to face the crowd. Months of intensive research, reading and revision all culminated in her nine-minute finalist presentation in Washington, D.C. With a panel of judges watching intently and four other teams competing for the trophy, the stakes were high.
“I was nervous, but at one point the nervousness went away and I was just passionate and excited about sharing my idea with the rest of the crowd,” Onuoha said.
This July, Onuoha won the Genes in Space science contest, in which competitors each designed a genealogical experiment related to space exploration. Onuoha’s experiment would investigate the cause of telomere lengthening, a phenomenon which counteracts some effects of aging among astronauts, and it will be conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) next year.
Onuoha initially discovered the competition through East’s Women in STEM Club. Having a love for biology and curiosity about the sciences from a young age, she seized this opportunity.
“I didn’t really know what space biology was, but just the idea of [space] being connected to biology in some way was super intriguing to me,” Onuoha said. “That’s part of why I pursued the opportunity, because I wanted to learn more.”
Onuoha began her research after winter break with the guidance of Kimberly Manning, her junior-year AP Biology teacher, and Harvard scientist Ana Karla Cepeda Diaz, who assisted mainly on her finalist presentation and research on the handling of the test subject organism.
Telomeres, which are end sections of DNA that protect it from degradation, shorten as one ages. However, it was discovered that telomeres actually lengthen among returning astronauts. Onuoha’s experiment would verify a possible cause of this phenomenon, which involves cosmic radiation stimulating activity of stem cells, which are younger and thus have longer telomeres.
“I looked at her proposal, and I [thought], this is going to win,” said Manning, noting the experiment’s relevance to human health and its potential implications.
Understanding the cause behind telomere lengthening could have significant applications in regenerative medicine and use in addressing age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and some cancers. Thus, some have called the telomere a “fountain of youth.”
Over the course of the competition, new constraints were introduced for contestants. Onuoha was informed after the first stage that experiments could not be performed on humans, as she originally intended. After extensive research, she eventually found a replacement organism, a worm called C. elegans, which was able to produce desirable experimental results yet also practical to use on the ISS. It proved a major challenge to yield convincing results while maneuvering limitations on test subjects, as well as time and funding constraints, which are to be expected in science, according to Onuoha.
“It was just a really great experience,” Onuoha said. “One thing I really like about research is that you get to pursue the answers to your questions. It’s not just asking questions and being confused. You ask the question, and then you use tools around you to find the answer.”
This sense of inquisitiveness reflects Onuoha’s character outside her Genes in Space research, noted Manning.
“She asked questions… not because she was just asking, but because she really wanted to know and that is what I think distinguished her from a lot of other people.”
Onuoha believes that her success arose from pursuing her passions and curiosity as far as possible, and being guided by her ambitions.
“I think that we have a school full of Pristines,” Manning said. “You might not have a science experiment that makes it to the International Space Station, but when you do your best work… you can make a difference.”
Photo Courtesy of Pristine Onuoha
