Beginning in Biology 1A, Sidwell Friends students pursue extraordinary scientific endeavors.

Akshay Krishnan ’20 and Patrick Newcombe ’20 have already made significant strides with their scientific careers. Patrick collaborates with a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University on research into bird migration patterns, while Akshay completed an internship at the renowned National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR). Both have presented research at scientific conferences, and together with Christin Clyburn ’20, Akshay and Patrick recently published their findings on the morphological effects of the pesticide imidacloprid on zebrafish development.

Not bad for 11th graders.

Their imidacloprid research began in Biology 1A , an accelerated survey course in which students complete independent research projects (IRP). As they worked on their IRP, Patrick, Akshay, and Christin became fixtures in Sidwell Friends’ zebrafish laboratory, taking thousands of measurements of developing specimens over the course of their project. “We were the joke of the class for how much effort we spent on this,” Akshay remembers with a grin. “I was at school 28 days consecutively, even weekends.”

Faculty member Melanie Fields worked closely with the trio to help shape their project and connected them with outside scientists who could provide specialized advice.

While Akshay and Patrick haven’t yet gone through the full rigor of the peer-review process, they have presented and published their findings and better understand what to expect as professionals in the life-science fields. “We’ve learned that we had the right sample size, but also that many researchers could spend 10 years on a project like ours,” says Patrick.

They also faced an obstacle that most researchers face in their careers: securing resources. While they have access to Sidwell Friends’ zebrafish laboratory and advanced equipment, they learned to identify creative work-arounds to costly, specialized microscopes—like using the NIH’s image processing program.

When researching which genes allow zebrafish to regenerate their lateral line hair cells, Anika Schipma ’19 likewise discovered that she would need specialized equipment to move her project forward. Her solution? Collaborating with researchers at NIH and Georgetown University, who donated transgenic zebrafish embryos and provided Anika access to an epifluorescence microscope.

For students like Akshay, Patrick, Christin, and Anika, the scientific inquiries that begin in their Biology 1A laboratory provide them the early experience to help them navigate their future scientific endeavors. And if their eager explanations of future projects are any indication, they will continue to challenge any limits to their enormous potential.