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
Ways to Improve Current Postoperative Pain Control Practices In Orthopaedics
The project could be a research paper, living document, or website explaining the various pain control practices and guidelines in Orthopaedic surgery. This research could build upon the field's current effort to improve and move away from heavy narcotic use, and to instead introduce ways to reduce Opioid consumption after surgery in order to and reduce abuse of narcotics.
Biology, Surgery, Statistics
Immune Cells During Pregnancy
This project will review the changes in immune cell populations and cell signaling that occur during pregnancy. Pregnancy requires a delicate balance between turning down parts of the maternal immune system to allow fetal development while also ramping up other parts to protect mother and baby from infection and disease during pregnancy. This project will explore the immunologic pathways and how imbalances have been linked to negative health outcomes.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Brain Cancer: An Exploration of the Genomic Landscape and Novel Treatment Approaches
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Tumors that develop in the central nervous system present uniquely difficult problems for medical and surgical treatment. Surgical removal is often complicated by nearby brain regions important for daily functioning. The effects of chemotherapy are frequently blunted by the blood-brain barrier preventing drug penetrance into the tumor itself. For decades, our treatments ranged from "good" to "slightly better", leaving us with few options in patients presenting with advanced or recurrent cancers. The past few years, however, have seen an explosion in the study of genomics and epigenomics in our drive towards personalized therapies guided by molecular tumor characterization. Recent discoveries have facilitated the development of novel therapies ranging from immunotherapy to oncolytic viral therapy, emerging options which offer optimism for treating cancers not responsive to traditional cancer treatments. For this project, students will explore the genetics of brain cancers and how understanding molecular pathogenesis may translate to novel therapies. Students will synthesize the current state of the literature in the form of either a review manuscript or a 15-minute presentation.
Surgery, Medicine
Review of dog-breed associated diseases
Although all dog breeds fall under the same species, breed associated diseases is an emerging field. Are there identified genes for these specific disease? Do newer mixed breeds still get these diseases? Students can read current literature and create a review paper on a wide variety of diseases or focus on a specific breed.
Surgery, Medicine
Anxiety and Depression in High School
I have done previous work on anxiety and depression in graduate and medical students, but I am interested in how early this starts. I want to look into if there are trends we are able to pick up on now, and if there are ways to help change and better these trends.
Surgery, Medicine
Review Article: Exercise Training and Peripheral Arterial Disease
It is generally known that exercise can improve symptoms of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This project can investigate the existing data and analyze how exercise has been linked to treating patients with PAD, and can seek to determine if a threshold for exercise is associated with improving symptoms of PAD. This can be presented in the form of an essay, scientific research paper, poster, or abstract. Additionally, analogous projects can be created with ideas similar to this one (ie looking at the impacts of exercise on stress, grades, other diseases, etc.).
Biology, Surgery, Public Health
Creating a 3D interactive web app to demonstrate proper yoga poses
Less than 5% of Americans live a healthy lifestyle, in part due to a lack of exercise. There are many forms of exercise that can be performed at home and at no cost. However, a barrier for many is that they do not know how to perform these exercises properly to avoid injury. Yoga is an example of a free, at-home exercise that can be difficult for beginners to perform. This project seeks to create web app that demonstrates the proper form for basic yoga exercises through an interactive, 3D animated humanoid model. The project makes use of the open source javascript library threejs and the open source digital design software Blender.
Surgery
Host on Health Disparities
In this project you will explore an area of health disparity -- whether that be in socioeconomic class, race, sex, or another population -- and then review sources that allow you to formulate an evidence-based opinion. Your project will include that opinion and possible solutions, to be featured online in print or via podcast!
Biology, Cancer, Surgery, Public Health
Medical Diagnosis/Treatment Scoping Review
1. Beginner Research Project. Students will identify an area of medicine that they are passionate about or interested in learning more about. We will work together to perform a review of current literature, synthesize the body of knowledge, and assemble an article for the general public. Areas of focus will include history of the topic, gaps in current literature, and directions for future research. Examples of topics include the growing role of neurotoxins in healthcare, applications of personalized medicine, and the use of simulations in surgical training.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Economics
How does orbit size and orientation relate to behavior in vertebrates?
Humans rely heavily on forward facing, binocular vision for the perception of depth and their environment. But for other animals, other senses can be more important than vision and the orientation of the orbit can vary depending on the importance of depth perception versus a wide field of view. This project seeks to quantify the relationship between the size, shape, and orientation of the orbit and behavior in various vertebrates. This project makes use of freely available 3D datasets of vertebrate cranial shape and the open source 3D digital manipulation software Blender.
Surgery
Ethical Considerations of Artificial Intelligence in General Surgery
This project involves a scientific viewpoint manuscript that examines the advantages, disadvantages, ethical considerations, and future directions for the use of artificial intelligence in surgery, with a particular focus on specific fields such as surgical oncology.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Does Anyone Know How Birth Control Works?
I want to investigate the knowledge base in a high school setting of birth control in its different forms. I also want to look into how we can better inform students of birth control and general reproduction.
Surgery, Medicine
Racial Disparities and Preferences in Breast Reconstruction
This project reviews differences and disparities in access to care, type of breast reconstruction, and health outcomes among women who have survived breast cancer. Comparisons will be made based on the patients' racial and ethnic identities. This project offers an excellent opportunity to contribute to a growing body of knowledge on health disparities in order to address an important public health question.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Synergistic Pain Management for Postoperative Pain
This project will include a brief overview of current postoperative pain management guidelines, the neurobiology of opioid pain relief, and the burden of opioid addiction faced by patients undergoing surgery. The bulk of the project consists of a thorough literature review of pain relief pathways in the brain and research exploring synergistic ways of relieving postoperative pain via neurobiology (such as complimentary receptor stimulation) that may decrease the narcotic requirement for adequate pain relief of postsurgical patients in the future. The literature review will then conclude in information synthesis and a scientific manuscript summarizing the current state of research on pain pathways. The findings are relevant to important topics in addressing the opioid epidemic.
Biology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare, Public Health
Social Media, Medical Misinformation, and Covid-19
Social media has positive and negative aspects in our culture today. It also has a large influence on how we consume medical communication. I want to look at how social media is affecting medical misinformation in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Surgery, Medicine
2. Neuroscience Podcast
Work on your scientific communication skills by creating a podcast series to communicate systems neuroscience articles and important findings in a way anyone can understand.
Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Surgery, Medicine
The Use of Robotics in Abdominal Surgery
This project focuses on the shift from laparoscopic abdominal surgery to robot-assisted techniques as the field continues to evolve. Important points when it comes to surgery are centered around infection rates, the need for re-operation, as well as clinical outcomes. One specific route that can be studied is infection rates between the two modes of surgery, which can give a sense of the overall safety of the procedure in question. Using the National Inpatient Sample Database, we can quantify infection rates and statistically compare them in order to verify the effectiveness and safety of the procedures. Another method of verifying the data is to conduct a meta-analysis where infection rates published in other papers are statistically analyzed in order to draw conclusions on the safety and efficacy of the procedures. This is only one of the many routes that this research project can take as the field is vast and quickly evolving.
Biology, Surgery, Chemistry, Statistics
Novel method for cancer treatment - ablation therapy
Alternative methods other than surgery to obtain local control for malignant diseases has been on the rise due to the minimally invasive nature and less complications. One way to obtain this is called ablation therapy which can use heat or electric field energy to treat cancer cells. In addition, ablations have shown to have an immune response that is favorable for cancer cell destruction. This project involves researching the immune benefits of ablation therapy and how it is applicable for cancer treatment.
Biology, Cancer, Surgery, Physics
Pharmacogenomics 101
Doctors prescribe drugs to treat a variety of health conditions. However, people can vary in how well they respond to the drug, and whether they experience adverse side effects from taking it. In some cases, this is due to genetic variation - i.e., differences in individuals' DNA sequence - and this is called Pharmacogenomics. In this project, you will use the database PharmGKB to identify genetic variants that impact response to commonly prescribed drugs, and evaluate how they impact the drug's biological actions at the molecular level. Through examining biochemical pathways involved in the drug's metabolism, you will gain a deeper understanding of the field of pharmacogenomics, and how genetic knowledge can help inform medical care.
Biology, Surgery, History, Literature, Languages
Stroke: The Science Behind A Dreaded Disease and The Evolution of How We Treat It
From the facial droop to the slurred speech, the hallmark signs of stroke are frightening for both the patient and his/her family. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States; however, even with its sudden nature and potential for lasting neurological damage, stroke has become increasingly treatable and preventable. Advances in our understanding of hemostasis and thrombosis have facilitated development of novel pharmacological agents for stroke prevention and treatment. Emerging surgical devices have led to increasing use of mechanical thrombectomy, the physical removal of a blood clot from within the vessel itself. Stem cell therapies hold tantalizing potential for recovering neuromuscular function in stroke patients. Throughout the course of this project, students will review the science of atherosclerosis and understand how this systemic process can progress to the acute onset of stroke. During this process, students will also explore how increased understanding of the pathogenesis of stroke has contributed to the shifting and advancing therapeutic landscape. The student's findings will be summarized as either a review manuscript or as a 15-minute presentation.
Surgery, Medicine