2,893 Inspirational Passion Project Ideas
Turn inspirations into your passion project.
This collection of project ideas, shared by Polygence mentors, is meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.
- AI/ML
- Animation
- Arts
- Biology
- Biotech
- Business
- Cancer
- Chemistry
- Cognitive
- Computer Science
- Creative Writing
- Dance
- Dentistry
- Economics
- Engineering
- Entomology
- Environmental Science
- Ethics
- Fashion
- Finance
- Game Design
- Healthcare
- History
- Illustration
- Languages
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Math
- Medicine
- Music
- Neuroscience
- Nutrition
- Organizational Leadership
- Philanthropy
- Philosophy
- Photography
- Physics
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Quantitative
- Social
- Social Science
- Sports Analytics
- Statistics
- Surgery
Advanced Project: Codon Optimality
Some DNA triplets encode for the same amino acid--for example, 'GCU' and 'GCC' both make Alanine. Early-on in the history of molecular biology, both of these triplets (called codons) were considered interchangeable--after all, they both make the same thing, so biologists called them 'synonymous'. However, over the last decade it's become clear that not all synonymous codons are treated equally--in fact, when we use genetic engineering to produce medically-important proteins, like insulin, we 'optimize' the DNA sequence to include synonymous codons that tend to produce more protein. This observation is the basis of the study of 'codon optimality', or the idea that different synonymous codons (usually the ones that are most common) lead to different levels of protein production. How much does codon optimality matter at different locations in different proteins? We can study this by analyzing all of the codons of dozens of genomes and asking how often each of those codons appears in the genome overall. Then, we can align homologous proteins in each of those genomes and ask whether the pattern of 'optimal' and 'non-optimal' codons in those proteins varies. In other words: if Protein A has an 'optimal' codon at position 1 and a 'non-optimal' codon at position 2 in one bacteria, does that pattern also hold in another bacteria? Codon optimization is a standard process in the expression of hundreds of different proteins that are important for medicine, so better understanding how patterns of codon optimality vary across bacteria may help us produce important medicines more efficiently.
Biotech
Does age impact symptoms of auto-immune disease?
Create a literature review aimed at understanding the impact age can have on auto-immune disease symptoms. Students will build skills reading scientific articles and summarizing findings from various sources. With this literature review, students can propose how we can enhance a patient's quality of life, based on their findings. They can make this proposal in a paper or other format, whichever they prefer.
Biotech, Biology
Go with the (Blood) Flow
MRI imaging of the thoracic cavity is a vital tool for the diagnoses and development of treatment plans regarding cardiovascular disease and lung functional abnormalities. A patient is required to remain very still while undergoing MRI because movement can cause artifacts in the results, where movement causes the images to be unclear. The problem is, the heart is always moving, always beating, and the lungs only stop moving for as long as one is not breathing. For the brains behind the code of a magnetic resonance imaging device to have a decent shot at advancing the code to the point where lung and heart movement are accounted for and no longer cause image blurring, they need a phantom heart, a stand-in, one with periodic flow and movement, to optimize their code around. Do you think you can design a system that replicates blood flow, heart movement, and (here's the catch) contains no metal pieces? I think you can :)
Biotech
Assemble a genome!
One of the most fundamental and interesting problems in biology is converting short, usually 20-100bp sequences of DNA into a full genome. There are lots of state-of-the-art programs to assemble bacterial genomes (which are the smallest, so the easiest to assemble on a laptop), including Spades. Work with me to pick out some bacterial genomes to assemble, and then use Spades (and/or other assembly programs) to assemble genomes and see whether you can generate better assemblies than the original papers.
Biotech
Make a publication-quality infographic!
Science and art go hand in hand! Indeed, when scientists want to communicate their results to the public, they often choose to use infographics; or, illustrations that convey high-quality scientific information. In this project, you will learn to create your own infographics. You will first ask a scientific question, such as "what types of microbes live at the bottom of the ocean?". Then, you'll read between 6 and 10 research articles about that question, summarizing your findings. Next, you will design an illustration that conveys your findings to an audience of your choice; for example, visitors to a museum exhibit, readers of a scientific magazine, or even visitors to your blog page. You'll use graphic design techniques to create a high quality image that accurately conveys a scientific message to the public. In this project, you'll gain proficiency in reading academic papers, summarizing scientific findings, and communicating those findings to a public audience. You'll think about how to best engage the general public and get them interested in scientific ideas that you think are cool. You'll also get to flex your graphic design muscles and use art programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva, or Procreate to design a cool piece of science art. If you love science, but are also inclined towards drawing, painting, or graphic design, this would be a great project for you!
Biotech
Mathematical Investigation of Blood Flow During Exercise
Develop a mathematical model that describes how blood flow changes in exercise. This project will teach students how to take information from physiology and medicine (vasodilation and hemodynamics) and derive from it a mathematical model that can be used to represent the system. Students will also learn how to use mathematical models to run experiments, compare experiment output with published data. Depending on the student's interest, we could also use this mathematical model to experiment how the body may change in pathological conditions such as diabetes. Potential outcomes from this project include a useable mathematical model and scientific research paper.
Biotech, Physics, Engineering, Math
Introduction to scientific computing with applications to biochemistry or medicine
Ideal for a student with some programming background, although I am also happy to work with a student without experience who is interested in getting started learning scientific programming. We would begin by going through the basics of the Python programming language and its scientific computing libraries numpy and scipy, and then applying it to a simple coding project where you would write up your own code to analyze a set of real biological data and make predictions. The project would then culminate in a research report or blog post.
Biotech, Physics
Scientific Review Paper on 'Reasons tumors are evading our immune system'
In this project, you will read scientific literature to research the various methods tumors use to evade our immune system. Ie. suppressive tumor microenvironment, decreased markers that typically allow immune cells to recognize it, inhibition of molecules that tell immune cells where to find the tumor, etc. This process will teach you the critical skills of finding, accessing, reading, and critically analyzing scientific literature and compiling it into a meaningful review of your own. These are critical skills to learning about new advances in any scientific field.
Biotech, Cancer
What is pain and how can we better treat it?
Despite the seemingly universal nature of pain it is well established that individuals experience very differently. The roles of biological, psychological, and/or social/environmental factors in mediating these individual differences in pain perception and experience is an active and fascinating area of research. Project Ideas: 1) What do we know about biological (genetic, brain circuit, etc.) factors that influence pain? What are the current gaps in our understanding and how can they potentially be filled? 2) How do gene-environment interactions lead to differences in a painful experiences? How can we leverage technologies such as CRISPR to treat pain?
Biotech, Neuroscience, AI/ML
Specific Aims Page
For a given hypothesis, we will work to craft a specific aims page detailing the experiments needed to support or disprove the hypothesis. We will focus on experimental flow, anticipating setbacks, and experimental design.
Biotech, Cancer, Engineering
Ready, Set, Write!
Let's create stories and tell them as though they were designed to be told, with color and passion, with a foundation in who you are and in the unique thoughts that you have, thoughts that create worlds and lives that never existed before your pen touched paper. Whether a graphic novel, a short, a full-length novel... truly, whatever floats your boat, take me along for the ride. Give me the privilege of discovering new worlds with you, and let me help you bring your ideas to completion. Cheerleader, editor, grammar nerd, I've got all the right uniforms. Let's do this thing.
Biotech
Market Landscape Assessment (Disease of your Choice!)
Have you ever wanted to understand the key drivers of a particular market. What makes one company invest so much in one disease but not another? What are they key pieces of information healthcare companies are thinking about when exploring a new disease area? In this project, you will learn the principles/fundamentals of how to properly analyze a market of a particular disease of interest. Key principles/fundamentals include: market size, disease overview, current treatment practices/paradigms, key unmet needs, competition, pipeline/clinical trials, payer insurance/coverage. Once you learn these fundamentals, you will choose a disease of interest and conduct a comprehensive market landscape report that touches on all these key metrics and wrap up with a detailed SWOT analysis. You will then create a summary, based on your findings and analysis, that outlines the future trends of this particular disease market.
Biotech, Public Health
Write a scientific review!
Scientists often write "scientific reviews" about an area of interest for them. A scientific review is a type of research paper that asks a broader scientific question, like "how can microbes be used to mitigate climate change?" or "how does malaria affect the immune systems of pregnant women and their babies?". To answer these questions, scientists read through recent published experimental findings that pertain to their question, and then they write a research paper that summarizes all those findings. If you choose to write a scientific review, you will read between 10-20+ articles on a topic of interest, build an annotated bibliography describing the main points of each article, and then write a paper that clearly summarizes the main ideas you found in the scientific literature. Scientific reviews are extremely valuable resources for other scientists; by doing this project, you will contribute to scientific discussion in your field of interest, you will hone your scientific communication skills, and you will learn best practices for scientific writing. You will also come away from this project with a strong understanding of how to use publicly available literature databases to do your research!
Biotech
Understanding the Financials Around Building a Startup
I will guide you on the basic business plans of setting up a startup, and will help assist in financial planning based on my own business plan document.
Biotech, Music, Business
Cell Mechanics:
For this project, you will learn about the biophysical techniques used for investigating the mechanical properties of cells, as well as some of the theoretical models used to understand them. You will write an in-depth review paper on a biophysical technique or theoretical model of your choosing. Some exposure to mathematics, physics, and cell biology will be helpful.
Biotech, AI/ML
Concepts of cell migration: how to improve the current understanding of chemotaxis
Cell migration has been studied extensively, but is such a complex topic that there are still many holes in what we know. There are also a variety of methods that have been used to study chemotaxis over the years in order to to better understand migratory functions. A detailed look into what is currently known, the methods currently available, what is lacking in our current understanding, and what can be done to fill this gap in the current understanding of chemotaxis. The project can include putting together a review of current literature topics, and methods surrounding cell migration and chemotaxis. The project can then also involve conceptualizing a method or system to help better study chemotaxis in vivo or in vitro.
Biotech, Biology, Cancer
3D Organ Engineering
Tissue Engineering. Regenerative Medicine. Stem Cells. Organ Transplants. In this exercise, we will explore the principles of engineering tissues and organs from the bottom up. Students will learn the nuances of building a tissue of their choice using the latest bioengineering techniques that are currently available. At the end of the exercise, students will be able to (i) understand the underlying biological and engineering principles of 3D Organ Engineering, (ii) create a tangible project that attempts to tackle a current limitation in 3D Organ Engineering, and (iii) create a short presentation and written proposal on said project.
Biotech
Wearable Technology:
Interested in wearable tech? This project will involve you working on brainstorming ideas of what types of wearable technology would be interesting to have. We will look at current technologies that are being implemented, and I will show you some of the work that I am working on for my graduate research work.
Biotech, AI/ML
From the lab to the field: nanophotonic biosensors
This project intersects two interesting fields of work: biological sensors and physics. The student will research and learn about the latest nanophotonic biosensor technology: learning how they operate, identify the platform's strength and weaknesses, and assessing the technology's readiness level to be deployed in the medical field. The student will learn how to read and understand academic research papers, think critically about the work in the paper, and develop the skills needed to form a opinion on the work. The project could culminate in an essay, or if the student is inspired, a proposal prototype that could address the limitations of the latest nanophotonic biosensor devices.
Biotech
Investigating marine genomes
Learn how to access and analyze publicly available genomes. of marine creatures like bacteria, corals, sponges, and sea weeds. Search for genes and learn what they encode. Learn how to connect DNA to antibiotic production. Learn bioinformatics and basic command line functions. End product can be a written report, a video, a presentation, or other options if you have an idea in mind.
Biotech, Biology
