​On April 6, three teams of PHS students competed in the BioEHSC (Bioengineering High School Competition), an annual high school bioengineering competition run by the UC Berkeley Bioengineering Honor Society. PHS competed against 50 national and California teams including entries from top schools across the Bay Area.

According to their website, the BioEHSC is a research and design competition in which teams define a biological problem, complete research, and then propose an engineering solution to the problem. The teams were sponsored by AP Biology teacher Shelley Seto-Rosen and were each matched with a UC Berkeley Bioengineering mentor. Seven weeks of preparation culminated in an in-person competition on the UC Berkeley campus consisting of a video submission, a poster session, an academic presentation, and an industry pitch. 

Seniors Josephine Oesterer, Jamie Schwarz, Jeremy Tuan, Mark Hsia, and Miles Antaya competed last year, adding a 3rd place finish to the 2nd place that they earned last year. This is PHS’s most successful team to date. 

The titles of this year’s projects:

Electric Stimulation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi to Increase Mycelia-Plant Mutualism 

Josephine Oesterer, Jamie Schwarz, Jeremy Tuan, Mark Hsia, and Miles Antaya

Creating Accessible Treatment for Erythrodermic Psoriasis with a Transdermal Microneedle Methotrexate (TdMnM) Patch

Genevieve Hiller, Logan Watral, Aman Jajodia, Inaya Majid, Emmett Baldwin

Idebenone Eye Drops as a Novel Treatment for Open Angle Glaucoma

Anne Reardon, Ayaan Jajodia, Beck Peterson, Elsa Rivera, and Maeve Gaylord