2016.06.16
The awards ceremony for the 2016 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), a competition where high school students from around the world showcase their research in science and technology, was held on the 13th in Phoenix, Arizona. Tomoaki Warashina, a first-year student, won the Second Award in the Molecular Biology category.
A total of 1,760 people from 77 countries and regions participated in the 2016 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), including 27 representatives from Japan who were top prize winners at the Japan Science & Engineering Challenge (JSEC) held last December.
Mr. Warashina's research was titled "Silk-Gland-Derived Sericin as a Growth Promoter in Animal Cell Culture." He received the award because sericin extracted from silk glands has the potential for future application in various fields, and further development of this research is highly anticipated.
Comment from Tomoaki Warashina
I am very honored to receive an award at Intel ISEF 2016. I have loved butterflies since I was a child and wanted to conduct research on insects, so in high school, I began a research project on applying silkworm proteins as a culture material. Last year, I received valuable opinions and advice from the judges at the 5th Bio Summit in Tsuruoka, held at the Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences, and at the Japan Science & Engineering Challenge 2015 (JSEC 2015), sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Company, which encouraged me to continue my research. Next term, I hope to engage in full-scale research activities at TTCK.
Photo courtesy of NPO Japan Science Service (NSS)