Sapna Shah
Markham, ON
Age at time of award: 17

At 16, Sapna became a summer research student at McGill University, and her passion for science and creative thinking were galvanized. She designed a microencapsulated live yeast column bioreactor and tested its feasibility in removing urea during kidney failure. Sapna’s research focus was inspired by her friend’s ailing parent who was dying of kidney failure. Sapna educated herself and learned that kidney failure leads to uremia; accumulation of toxic levels of urea and other uremic toxins, affecting over 1.9 million people in Canada alone. Sapna’s review article was published in May, 2009 in Journal of Biologics: Targets and Therapy. Her unique and practical solution to kidney failure, an orally administered capsule of microencapsulated live yeast cells holds promise for the millions of people who suffer from kidney failure.

Sofia Oke
Guelph, ON
Age at time of award: 17

Commitments with Habitat for Humanity, St. Joseph's Health Care Centre, Red Cross, and the Bracelet of Hope Campaign helped Sofia understand the challenges others face. For her humanitarianism, the City of Guelph recognized Sofia with their Top 40 Under 40 Award in 2009. A successful athlete with outstanding business skills, she was named MVP of her competitive soccer team and placed 10th out of 1000 at DECA’s international business competition in California. Sofia was inspired to make a difference as she saw a family friend battling cancer and its therapies’ side effects. Sofia and her partner worked tirelessly to discover how to target tumour cells and sensitize them for “programmed” cell death, while reducing chemo’s side effects. Their innovation earned Gold at the Waterloo-Wellington Science Fair and Petro Canada’s Innovatin Award at the Canada Wide Science Fair.

Cody O’Neil
Kelowna, BC
Age at time of award: 17

National Champion in Wendy’s “Classic Achiever”, Cody performs to his utmost. Demonstrating his talents in the sciences, languages, drama, and athletics. With firsts at national and international science fairs, his ability to make effective presentations has revealed a skillful public speaker as he sheds new light on climate change. Cody’s research into this pressing issue takes an entirely new and to some, controversial, point of view: he examines the relationship between astronomy and climate change, a combination typically overlooked, if not ignored, by the scientific community. His theory of “Orbital Forcing” poses a relation between variations in the Earth’s orbit and long-term climatic change. It also attempts to correlate sunspot cycles to short-term climate change. Placing 1st overall at the 2009 Taiwan International Science Fair and the Australian National Youth Science Forum, Cody’s work is gaining acceptance and recognition.

Tony Kwon
London, Ontario
Age at time of award: 17

As a grade nine student, Tony wanted to lessen the effects of microorganisms on human health. The University of Western Ontario let him use their Microbiology and Immunology lab to research a globally ubiquitous and life-threatening bacteria—streptococcus pyogenes. His works shows that fresh garlic inhibits streptococcal colonization, decreases aspects of the bacteria’s virulence, and could ultimately prevent or treat group A streptococcal infections. Untreated strep throat can cause acute rheumatic heart disease and is linked to about 500,000 deaths in developing countries annually. Imagine the major advancement if simply chewing garlic would prevent even 1% of these cases. A National Science Fair Gold Medallist, Tony represented Canada in Tunisia at the 2009 International Science Fair and helped his team win the “Enrique Padilla Award” for project quality, spirit, organization and overall contribution to the fair.