The ExploraVision group was featured on Channel 15 WICD-TV's evening news broadcast on April 1. (CLICK SCREENSHOT TO SEE VIDEO)

A cameraman from WICD-TV was on hand for the ceremony. Gargoyle photo by Gordon Ruan (click to enlarge)

Toshiba representative David Ansehl praised the regional winners. Gargoyle photo by Gordon Ruan (click to enlarge)

URBANA — Uni High's regional-winning ExploraVision team sent off its entry to the national competition this week, ending a busy stretch during which team members not only put the finishing touches on their project but also received extensive local media attention.

On April 1, Toshiba representative David Ansehl visited Uni to present the regional award to senior Isaac Chambers, juniors Tej Chajed, Daniel Cheng, Danny Ge, and their coach, biology teacher David Stone.

The awards ceremony was publicized in print and on television. To see the coverage by ABC affiliate WICD-TV, click here or click the screenshot at top right.

ExploraVision is a contest open to K-12 students living in the United States, U.S. territories, or Canada. The competition asks participants to create and explore a future technology by developing new ways to apply current science.

The contest, now in its 17th year, is sponsored by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association

For their entry, the Uni foursome teamed up to develop a novel treatment for heart disease. Their concept uses synthesized proteins to treat atherosclerosis.

The team's project is called HEARTt: sHDL Enabled Atheroma Reverse Transport Technology. In February it won first place in a region consisting of nine states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin) and all of Canada.

"HEARTt was the third project for Tej, Daniel, and me and the second for Isaac," said Ge. "I felt more confident turning in this project than any of our previous ones simply because of the amount of work we put into it compared to previous projects. This year, we worked up until the last minute before turning it in, whereas in previous years we had finished our project up to a week in advance."

"I think what made our project different this year was that we didn't just write the paper as a goal," said Cheng. "We actually thought about it and tried to find a solution that would work, so we had to refine it a lot of times."

As regional champions they won a Toshiba notebook computer for the school; they each also received a portable DVD player, as did their supervising teacher, Stone.

After winning the regional title, the team members didn't let up. The next step was to prepare their entry for the national contest, which included developing a Web site and video introducing their technology.

Now that they are finished, all that remains is the waiting. The Uni team is competing against five other regional winners. At stake is a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond for each member of the first-place team. The results are expected to be announced in early May.

Note: Three other Uni teams competed in the ExploraVision regional contest and won honorable mention. For an overview of all four teams, see the list below.

Uni ExploraVision Projects at a glance

HEARTt: sHDL Enabled Atheroma Reverse Transport Technology

Group members: Senior Isaac Chambers and juniors Tej Chajed, Daniel Cheng, and Danny Ge

Grade level: 10-12

Project details: Atherosclerosis is a disease that causes excess formation of plaque on the artery walls that builds up and eventually ruptures the walls to cause heart attacks or strokes. Many people suffer from this incurable disease, and few successful treatments are available. HEARTt is designed to treat atherosclerosis by using synthesized proteins to remove the plaque.

Regional award: First place

NeCoRe Heart: Neuron-Controlled Replacement Heart

Group members: Sophomores Eric Chen, Zack Korol-Gold, and former Uni student Youyang Gu, a sophomore at Henry M. Gunn High School in California

Grade level: 10-12

Project details: Aiming their project at giving heart transplant patients a better life, these sophomores decided to create a completely new artificial replacement heart. Their new replacement heart improves on previous artificial hearts by allowing the continuous flow of energy and does not require patients to take any medication or wear an external battery.

Regional award: Honorable mention

BMRIDD: Bone MRI and Density Device

Group members: Freshmen Kathy Qiu and Aishwarya Gautam

Grade level: 7-9

Project details: This group developed a technology that applies magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to the dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. According to Qiu, "The purpose is to measure bone mineral density while also evaluating overall bone quality, which neither the DXA nor MRI can do alone." Qiu found the project to be enlightening: "I've learned a lot about how some technologies — DXA and MRI in particular — are used for health evaluation; I've gotten a better understanding of the scientific process; [and] I've become a better writer."

Regional award: Honorable mention

C-SMART: Toothbrush for Earlier Dental Caries Detection (C-SMART stands for Caries-Sensing Monitoring Alerting Reporting Toothbrush)

Group members: Freshmen Dax Earl, Rohit Palekar, and Anna Rubakhina

Grade level: 7-9

Project details: Ever wonder whether your teeth are decaying or getting a case of dental caries? These freshmen developed C-SMART, an improved version of the modern toothbrush that will be able to tell the users whether they have caries developing on their teeth. To detect the caries, C-SMART uses laser technology that collects reflected light from the caries that is sent to a microcomputer chip in the toothbrush handle.

Regional award: Honorable mention