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In the crowded atrium of Morse Hall, large posters mounted on easels described cutting-edge science ranging from genetically engineered plants to 3-D bio-printing to an ultra-low frequency magnetometer.

But this was no ordinary gathering of scientists. The poster authors were teenagers participating in Project SMART (Science and Mathematics Achievement Through Research Training), a 易胜博官网 summer institute that gives rising high school juniors and seniors the chance to study biotechnology or space science and get a close-up look at the research process alongside 易胜博官网 faculty. The July 26 poster session, part of the closing ceremony on the program鈥檚 final day, enabled the participants to showcase what they had learned during four intense weeks. Dozens of relatives, friends and 易胜博官网 administrators got an overview of projects that explored scientific technologies and their impacts on society.

Caroline Gettens, who attends St. Paul鈥檚 Academy in Concord, studied so-called gene doping, in which athletes use genes to enhance their athletic performance.

鈥淚 thought it was very interesting because it鈥檚 a new form of doping in the Olympics,鈥� she explained. 鈥淭here are a lot of ethical and moral issues associated with it.鈥� For instance, critics contend that it amounts to playing god, though proponents argue that it allows people of differing natural abilities to compete on a level playing field.

Gettens also learned more about her own scientific interests this summer. Before the program, she had wanted to be a surgeon; now, after taking part in in-depth labs and visiting New England BioLabs Inc. in Ipswich, Mass., she鈥檚 considering some form of biotechnology.

鈥淚鈥檓 interested in cancer and the developments for curing cancer,鈥� said Gettens, who has seen relatives struggle with the disease. 鈥淚t was really nice to have people who are actually in the field of cancer research come talk to us.鈥�

As Gettens honed her pipetting skills, Eloy Torres of Hayward, Calif., learned the programming language IDL in order to look for extremely low-frequency events in data sets produced by a magnetometer, which measures the magnitude of magnetic fields. Torres, who attends a small charter school, discovered that the research process isn鈥檛 always smooth. For instance, as the only Mac user in his group, he had to download special programs in order to build a micro-computer. 鈥淎fter five tries, I finally got the LED light to flash. That felt good.鈥�

Others chose projects to which they had a personal connection. According to Carla Cerda, who attends Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, researchers have found that identical twins, who share the same genes, get less and less identical as they grow older. That鈥檚 because their increasingly dissimilar environments result in different patterns of gene expression.

鈥淚dentical twins were once thought to be exactly the same, but this research explains a lot about their personalities and the way their environment affects identity,鈥� Cerda said.

Cerda was attending Project SMART with her sister Natalie 鈥� her identical twin. 鈥淥ur personalities are very different,鈥� Cerda explained, 鈥渁nd we don鈥檛 look exactly the same. People are able to tell us apart. So it鈥檚 interesting to see how that happened.鈥�

Both Carla and Natalie Cerda, who studied artificial photosynthesis, said they especially valued the opportunity to gain lab experience at Project SMART 鈥� something they haven鈥檛 been able to do at their high school because of budget constraints.

鈥淚 took AP biology and many of the labs had to be cut out because we didn鈥檛 have enough materials,鈥� Natalie Cerda said. 鈥淣ow I feel more prepared for college labs.鈥�

Their mother, Martha Cerda, said her daughters are even considering attending 易胜博官网.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the first time I鈥檝e seen them in a month and to me they鈥檙e totally different people in terms of the science knowledge they鈥檝e gained and their engagement in learning. It鈥檚 opened their eyes to different areas of science as well,鈥� she said.

That鈥檚 part of the aim of Project Smart, which just completed its 22nd year. This summer, the 38 participants hailed from 12 states as well as Canada and Turkey. The students in the space science module flew high-altitude weather balloons, while the students in the biotechnology and nanotechnology module studied recent biological breakthroughs, including cloning, stem cells, genetic testing, gene therapy, and the genetic basis of cancer and aging. Outside the classroom, they visited the Boston Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium, enjoyed a whale-watching excursion, rode the cog railway to the top of Mt. Washington, and cruised the Piscataqua River.

In his farewell remarks to the group after the poster session, Project SMART director Subhash Minocha praised the students鈥� work and said the issues they had studied would be important to their lives. He also used science to inject some humor into the proceedings. Noting that some students had lamented that only four weeks remained before the start of school, he told them that one second contains one million micro-seconds.

鈥淭hink in terms of microseconds,鈥� said the professor of plant biology and genetics, 鈥渁nd that four weeks sounds like a long time.鈥�

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