Like a lot of high school students, Austin Wang isn鈥檛 exactly sure what he鈥檚 going to do with his life.
But after winning in his division at the International BioGENEius Challenge last week in Philadelphia for his work with microbial fuel cells, it鈥檚 clear the Grade 11 student from David Thompson Secondary in 91原创 has a lot of options.
The contest is the premier event of its kind in the biotechnology field.
Wang, 17, finished ahead of 28 other competitors from the U.S., Canada and Germany to take the Global Environment Challenge and $7,500 US for identifying genes that generate electricity from bacteria.
The project required knowledge of engineering, biology, chemistry, genetics and physics, as well as computer analysis.
鈥淭he beauty of this project is I get a mix of everything,鈥� Wang said Sunday. 鈥淚 find I enjoy a lot of different things.鈥�
Wang, who also composes music on the piano and plays basketball, still doesn鈥檛 know what his career will be.
鈥淚 ask myself the same question all the time,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 really don鈥檛 know what I want to study.
鈥淚鈥檓 still trying to explore, trying to find what I enjoy doing.鈥�
The bacteria in Wang鈥檚 fuel cells were fed a synthetic food source.
鈥淚n real life, these bacteria will run off waste material, such as waste water or sewage or sludge,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t treats the waste water while generating electricity 鈥� and potentially clean water.
鈥淲e put in a lot of energy treating waste water, when in fact waste water actually contains a lot of energy,鈥� he said.
There鈥檚 even the possibility the bacteria could be used to clean oil spills or other contaminants in water.
While his ultimate path is unclear, Wang has definite plans for his prize money and the summer.
鈥淧robably I鈥檒l donate some to charity and save the rest to continue the project,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 want to keep working in the lab, hopefully without distraction from school, so I can advance the project and take it to the next level.鈥�
The next phase of Wang鈥檚 project might be finding a better bacteria than the non-pathogenic E. coli he used in his fuel cells.
鈥淓. coli is really easy to work with genetically, but it鈥檚 not really good at generating electricity,鈥� he explained.
While he鈥檚 a prize winner, Wang knows he hasn鈥檛 accomplished all this on his own.
He made special mention of mentor Dr. Susan Baldwin of the University of B.C., Science World (which did 3-D printing of his cell prototype), contest sponsor Sanofi and his father, Hopkins Wang.
