SMHS Freshman Takes 2nd At Regional Science Fair
During the summer of 2016, Orta and Stedman participated in a grant project funded by the National Science Foundation with Dr. Hong-Gu Kang and Texas State University.
San Marcos High School freshman Phoenix Orta competed at the Alamo Regional Science Fair in San Antonio February 25, 2017, and took Second Place honors in the Botany division.
Mark Stedman, her SMHS Pre-AP Biology teacher, said this will now advance her to the state competition at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, in San Antonio, on March 31.
During the summer of 2016, Orta and Stedman participated in a grant project funded by the National Science Foundation with Dr. Hong-Gu Kang and Texas State University.
Working in Dr. Kang’s high-tech genetics lab, Orta learned how to manipulate plant genes to discover how and why certain genes move.
Stedman said, “Our school received some fantastic genetics equipment, and Phoenix received a winning project ultimately. Her project actually involved the transfer of the CRISPR CAS-9 gene (an editing gene) into bacteria, and then from bacteria into plants. She then tested the plants to see how genes moved while the plants were under stress.”
San Marcos CISD congratulates Phoenix Orta on her accomplishments, and thanks again Dr. Kang for the mentoring and use of the Texas State University lab.
