Collegiate grad wins major prize at national science fair
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This article was published 24/05/2019 (2381 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Sixteen-year-old Leah Schwartz from the University of Winnipeg Collegiate won big at the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) this year.
The national event was held in Fredericton, N.B., from May 15 to 17 and brought together nearly 500 of the country’s top student scientists.
Schwartz won a Gold Medal of Excellence for her project Regulation of Periostin Gene Expression by Scleraxis, which looked at the proteins involved in the development of cardiac fibrosis.
Cardiac fibrosis is an abnormal thickening of the tissues in the heart.
Through her research, Schwartz has found that periostin, a protein that appears to increase cardiac fibrosis, is regulated and produced by another protein, called scleraxis. This link could help develop therapies to treat cardiac fibrosis.
Schwartz is a recent graduate of the Collegiate and has been volunteering as a researcher at St. Boniface Hospital for the last year. Her mentor and principal investigator at the hospital’s Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, Dr. Michael Czubryt, helped Schwartz design the gold medal project.
Schwartz’s goal is to study science and continue her research work, according to her CWSF biography. Outside of academics, she plays piano and double bass and is involved in several community orchestras. She also plays soccer and chess at a competitive level.
For her gold medal win, Schwartz also received thousands of dollars in entrance scholarships from several Canadian universities.
— Staff