Science Research Program

History:

• The CHS Science Research Program was started in 1998 by Thomas Geelan, a science teacher at City Honors School and Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) Education Department members, Dr. Edwin Mirand and Mr. Craig Johnson.

• The program was expanded to Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWMRI) in 2005 through the
efforts of City Honors Principal, Dr. William Kresse, then-coordinator, Mr. Dean Johnson, Dr. Jane Griffin and Dr.
Bill Duax from HWMRI.

• City Honors science teacher, Ms. Kelly Hyla, has served as the coordinator of the program since 2008 and has
overseen its continued expansion into additional laboratories.

Program Details:

• The City Honors School Science Research Program (SRP) is a rich learning experience that is carried out over the entire four years of high school, which allows students to become more proficient with a variety of laboratory techniques.  The experience concludes with the presentation/defense of a thesis to the research and school community at the end of senior year.  Successful SRP students are awarded a special joint diploma by the school and research institution.

• Students spend one entire day per week at RPCI/HWMRI working with their mentor and on their research. SRP students are exempt from 20% or more of class time to do their research, however their academic course work is not allowed to
suffer. Students in the program must maintain a B average in ALL academic courses including Advanced
Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. 

• SRP students are also require to present the ongoing findings from theeir research at several regional and national science symposiums each year.

• Students have a research mentor who is a professional scientist at RPCI/HWMRI. The research mentor isresponsible for helping the student plan and oversee his/her research experience. The mentor provides the student
with necessary work space, supplies, technical expertise and accepts the student as a contributing member of the
research team.

• The students have an education mentor who is the “link” between City Honors School and RPCI/HWMRI. The
education mentor provides students with assistance in writing research abstracts and papers, rehearsing
presentations and also provides a basic academic foundation in biology and chemistry. The education mentor also
monitors academic progress of all students in the program.

• This program is unique because it offers the students an opportunity to do actual scientific research and gives students a head start on entering the fields of medicine or medical research. Students are prepared to become leaders in Buffalo’s new economy in medical research and treatment.

• Many students in the program go on to attend colleges and universities with prestigious health/medicine research
programs. Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, and University of Chicago are just a few of the
universities that students attend after graduating from City Honors.

Acceptance Process:

• Attend a regular Morning Class each day from 7:30 am-8:10 am. This class is in addition to a full academic course load.
• Reading and summarizing scientific research papers.An intensive course in Biology and Chemistry.
• Students accepted into the program will also have to take AP Statistics and IB Physics.
• Interview by a mentor at RPCI/HWMRI. Ultimately, the participating mentor decides the student that he/she will mentor.
• Present at various science fair competitions. Including the: WNY Science Congress at Buffalo State College and the Ying Tri Regions Science and Engineering Fair held yearly in Syracuse, New York

Funding:

• Funding for the program comes from grants from the City Honors/Fosdick-Masten Park Foundation and each student contributes approximately $200.00 each school year if financially feasible for their family. The Buffalo Board of Education frees up the coordinator from two teaching periods a day to offer the morning seminar, coordinate with the two institutes, and to support/monitor students in their work. Donations to support the work of our students in the program and their participation in science symposiums can be sent to the CH/FMP Foundation, c/o City Honors School.

Highlights:

• In 2009 Jimmiti Teysir was the first student to win a grand finalist award at the Ying TRSEF and compete at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) alongside 1500 young scientists from around the world.  Since then, students from the program have moved on to the INTEL ISEF:
  • 2010: Fiona Hennig and Rasheen Powell
  • 2011:  Dana Hogan, Marissa Komanski and Minerva Ringland
• In 2011 Miriam Frisch was selected as a semifinalist in the INTEL Science Talent Search (STS).  She receive a $1000 scholarship.
• In 2011 Nicci Moran-Guiati submitted her abstract to the American Association of Cancer Researchers (AACR) and it was accepted.  She was the only high school student to present her research at the conference alongside graduate students and post doctoral students.
• In the summer of 2011 Wendy Yang and Partho Bhattacharya had a paper published in  Oncotarget Journal, June 2011 titled: Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in prostate cancer cells likely represents a laboratory artifact.  Wendy and Partho were first and second authors respectively with their mentor Dr. Eugene Kandel.
• In 2012 Nicci Moran-Guiati was selected as a semifinalist in the INTEL Science Talent Search (STS).  She receive a $1000 scholarship.
• Past publications:
  •  Loss of SMRT/NCoR2 Co repressor Correlates with JAG2 Over expression in Multiple Myeloma; Cancer Research, Issue 69, May 5, 2009
              - Joseph Moran-Guiati, 2009 graduate, RPCI, mentors Dr. Lionel Coignet and Dr. Pushpankur Ghoshal. Joe was a ‘third author’ of the research paper.
  •  The Effect of ALA/PpIX PDT on Putative Cancer Stem Cells in Tumor Side Populations; SPIE Journal (International Society for Optical Engineering
              - Cara Petrucci, 2009 graduate, RPCI, mentor Dr. Janet Morgan, Department of Dermatology. Cara was a ‘second author’ of the research paper.

Current Students:

Roswell Park Cancer Institute:

• Nicci Moran-Guiati, Class of 2012: mentor Dr. Graham Warren; Effect of various SSRIs on radiation therapy in cancer cells

• Minerva Ringland, sophomore: mentor Dr. Daryl Nazareth: Improving optimization efficiency during treatment planning in radiation therapy

• Marissa Komanski, Class of 2012: mentor Dr. Malhotra; IMRT v. 3DCRT: Modular efficiency in radiotherapy of pituitary adenoma

• Partho Bhattacharya, Class of 2013: mentor Dr. Eugene Kandel; The role of ETV1 in the expression of ARF tumor suppressor

• Wendy Yang, Class of 2013: mentor Dr. Eugene Kandel; XMRV Virus: An artifact of prostate cancer

• Seamus Degan, Class of 2013: mentor Dr. Katerina Gurova; Effect of overexpression of SSRP-1 in HT1080 cells

• Nadine Pershyn, Class of 2013: mentor Dr. Janet Morgan; Effect of desferoxamine mesylate on photodynamic therapy

• Francisco Botello, Class of 2014: mentor Dr. Hans Minderman; NF-kB activation in lymphocytes

• Yankang Yang, Class of 2014: mentor Dr. Joseph Lau; ST6Gal-1 expression in different cells and tissues

Hauptman-Woodward:

All students at HWMRI work on bioinformatics using databases such as: Prosite Parser, Expasy, TrEMBL, etc....

• Fiona Hennig, Class of 2012: mentor Dr. Bill Duax; Analysis of ribosomal proteins

• Rasheen Powell, Class of 2012: mentor Dr. Bill Duax; Tracing bacterial speciation using ribosomal proteins

• Jamerdon Dean, Class of 2013: mentor Dr. Bill Duax; Complete analysis of S-17 and S-18 ribosomal proteins

• Jordan Tick, Class of 2014: mentor Dr. Bill Duax; DNA fingerprints of the 21 small ribosomal subunit proteins

• Rex Herzberg, Class of 2015: mentor Dr. Mikhail Nikiforov's; Roswell Park Cancer Institute

• Connor Huck, Class of 2015: mentor Dr. Bill Duax; Hauptman-Woodward Research Institute

Channel 2 Buffalo recently profiled our Science Research Program.  Click Here to View the Story!

For more information on the CHS Science Research Program, please contact Ms. Kelly Hyla