Photo by Tiffany Xiao/The Choate News
On January 6, Joy Bang ’22 was announced as a semifinalist and one of the top 300 scholars for the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), one of the oldest and most prestigious high school math and science research competitions in the country. This year, 1,804 students from 603 high schools across 46 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and eight other countries applied to the competition. Bang’s winning biology project focused on using Transcription Factor A Mitochondria (TFAM), a type of protein, to safely store data-holding DNA.
The bulk of the research for her project took place over the summer at Suwon University in South Korea. According to Bang, current methods of storing data such as images are space and energy-intensive, which has led scientists to explore other means of storing information. DNA data storage “is a field that’s being really intensively studied because of its great potential to be the next mainstream medium of data storage,” she said. However, one critical issue with this method is the inherent instability of DNA. Bang’s work was on using TFAM to encapsulate and protect mitochondrial DNA from various stress factors such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation and oxidative stress. “I wanted to see if this protein could be combined with DNA storing actual information,” she said. Her research results showed that the TFAM-DNA complex met stable storage needs in aqueous conditions, despite harsh UV irradiation and oxidative stress. Furthermore, she successfully stored and retrieved both 10×10 black and white images and binary numbers.encoded within the nucleotide of the DNA.
After three months working on the project, Bang recalled the night, or rather morning, that she heard the news. “I remember it was 2 a.m. in Korea, 12 p.m. EST, when I got an email notification from STS saying ‘Congratulations!’” Bang continued, “I was so thrilled and excited, and I got to celebrate it at home.” For her work, Bang and Choate have each received $2000 in prize money from STS.
Bang’s motivation for this project came from not only her principal investigator at Suwon Professor Woo Rin Lee, who introduced and helped Bang develop the model for her project, but also literature review she completed for the biology section of the School’s Science Research Program (SRP). “SRP built a strong foundation for my research skills and literature review” she shared. Although her SRP and previous research experiences pertained to lung-related conditions, “a lot of techniques I used and the analysis I did were similar to my prior research,” she said.
Looking to the future, Bang shared her interest and passion for continuing her research project. “I’m definitely interested in furthering this project — I’m planning on reaching out to professors in this field to receive feedback on my work and further it.”
On January 20, 40 of the top 300 scholars were named Regeneron Science Talent Search Finalists, in which 10 of those students will be selected in mid-March to receive a combined total of $1.8 million in awards during the final award ceremony.
