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
Cancer Immunology Review Paper
This project will focus on learning how to do literature searches and to read scientific research articles. We will work together to narrow the topic of the paper to a manageable size (less than 50 references), and prepare for submission to a high school level journal (e.g. Columbia Junior Science Journal). Throughout the project, we will learn basic science, understand experimental design, and be able to critically think about scientific assumptions.
Cancer
Cancer Biology Review
Are you interested in learning more about cancer biology? In this project, students will choose a specific cancer of their choice and learn to conduct a scientific literature review. In this scientific literature review, the students will learn about the tissue/cell of origin, what happens to the tissue/cells at a molecular level to allow for cancer development, and the current therapies geared toward treating it. To finish things off, we'll work together in creating a paper, video, or presentation based off the student's findings!
Biology, Cancer
Dormant cancer cells: The force awakens
Did you know that cancer cells undergo a process called dormancy to evade immune surveillance? Dormancy is a mechanism by which cancer cells are not actively undergoing the cell cycle process, allowing them to remain "asleep" within a patient's body. The major problem with dormant cancer cells is that once they "wake up", they are highly metastatic and are resistant to treatment. Are you interested in learning more about this topic while also doing a project that excites you? If so, I look forward to working with you. This project could be conducted in multiple ways: a scientific blog, a review article, a brief video, or a podcast.
Cancer
Identifying molecular targets of small molecules
Small molecules can be used to modulate different proteins and pathways within the cell. While some small molecules have known molecular targets (proteins, lipids, etc.) that they bind to, others act via an unknown mechanism. You will first identify a small molecule that kills cells but that does so via an unknown mechanism. You will then use the Broad's Dependency Map to examine the lethality of the molecule in various genetic knockout backgrounds and compare this with co-dependencies of genetic knockouts with each other to identify potential targets of the small molecule. Lastly, you will use this information to hypothesize the mechanism by which the molecule kills cells and assess its potential translation as a cancer drug.
Biology, Cancer
Identifying factors that may contribute to health disparities in cancer
Using the SEER cancer database, we could perform a correlation analysis to determine what factors influence survival statistics and gaps in survival between racial groups, patients of different sexes, or geographical areas.
Biology, Cancer
Boosting the immune system to fight cancer
Immunotherapies seek to enhance the immune system to identify and kill cancer cells. In this project, we will review different types of immunotherapies like cancer vaccines, adoptive cell transfer, checkpoint blockade, antibodies, or focus on a particular type.
Biotech, Biology, Cancer
Investigating the cultural inclusivity of current nutrition guidelines in medicine: a literature review
This proposed project would investigate whether current nutrition guidelines for US adults reflect cultural humility, awareness, and inclusivity and work in tandem with (rather than in opposition to) the various cultural food practices of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, highlighting the potential need for potential updates to current dietary recommendations.
Cancer, Neuroscience, Nutrition, Medicine
What is drug and gene delivery?
We hear about using "targeted therapies", "personalized medicine", "gene editing", and CRISPR, but what are these techniques, and why are they important? In this project, students can gain an understanding of how drug and gene delivery works and why it's an important aspect of modern pharmaceutical research. Students will learn how to read and analyze scientific literature on new methods of treating cancer. This can result in a paper or presentation detailing new methods and future directions of the field.
Cancer
Can You Grow a Human Heart?
Regenerative medicine is an exciting field of research, especially with emerging stem cell therapies. You could do an in-depth literature review on emerging stem cell trials and present your findings in a podcast format, research paper, or video.
Cancer, Healthcare
An Exploration of Cancer Metastasis Mechanisms and Research Frontiers
This project, based in analysis of publicly available data and culminating in a literature review, aims to investigate the biological processes underlying cancer metastasis, the latest research developments, and the challenges in preventing and treating metastatic cancer. Through this exploration, the student will gain insights into the complexities of cancer spread and the current frontiers in metastasis research.
Biology, Cancer, Neuroscience, Computer Science
Biomaterial designs
You can pick a topic of your interest (e.g. degradable sutures, dental implants, hip prostheses) and learn more about how the biochemical and mechanical properties are taken into account in material design.
Cancer, Engineering
Cancer screening modalities
Cancer is a disease that, when caught early, actually has good outcomes. The tricky thing, however, is that for many forms of cancer, finding specific ways to identify cancer in the early stages is very difficult. Technologies to advance cancer screening are blossoming into amazing ways to find even the most minute traces of cancer.
Cancer
CAR-T Targets
CAR-T cells are cells engineered to identify cancer cells and, through several mechanisms, lead to decreased cancer burden. Reviewing the mechanism of CAR-T cells and technology developments, we can propose a new CART-T cell target antigen and describe its process of research, development, and manufacture.
Biotech, Cancer
Writing a fundable grant
Successful grant writing is an exceptionally important skill to have as an individual pursuing a career in science. It requires an ability to synthesize existing research in a field and identify gaps in current knowledge, while convincing a funding audience that your project goals are promising routes to fill those gaps. Early exposure to grant writing strategies and styles will be invaluable to any student, whether or not they continue on in a science carrier, as the root of success in this endeavor is clear, concise, and effective written communication. For this project, a student will choose research area of interest, spend ample time reading the primary literature, identify a topic of incomplete understanding in the field, and work to design a set of rigorous experiments to address that gap in knowledge. We'll look at successful grants and work to implement tactics of effective communication to leverage your research goals. Depending on future goals, you may be able to submit your grant to the appropriate funding agency with the intent of supporting an independent research project in you post secondary education!
Cancer
Coronavirus and Underlying Medical Conditions:
People who have a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 have underlying medical conditions like heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, obesity and more. Why might people with one or more of these health complications be more susceptible to severe illness? Students can learn more about topics related to organ disease, metabolic disease, virology, immunology and more.
Cancer
Debunking Science Myths
Claims about genetics, cancer prevention, and cancer treatment can spread quickly on social media. Take a look at some of the content being shared in these arenas, then review the scientific literature to determine how true these are. Create a your own video, podcast, or essay where you present the data in a clear and engaging way to a general audience.
Biology, Cancer
Designing a Podcast
This kind of project allows you to create a dynamic to explore new topics through discussion, reflection, and commentary. The sky is the limit with what you would like to do with this. From deep dives into scientific topics to interviewing science-related people about their journeys, to reflecting on how science help us to understand the world around us and its limits, it can be a great way to experience and engage the scientific community.
Cancer
Is the Surge of Sleep Deprivation in Young Adults due to Excessive Caffeine Intake?
Sleep deprivation is a public health issue that has been on the rise steadily as more young adults present to clinics seeking treatment. With energy drinks and increased consumption of coffee and other caffeine-containing products, there have been more young adults stuck in the cycle of not sleeping and then relying on caffeine to get through the day. The goal of the study will be to see if young adults in high school who complain of sleep-related problems had been taking caffeine and if their sleep deprivation could be corrected by removal of caffeine along with the promotion of a proper sleep-wake cycle.
Biology, Cancer
Reflections on Illness
Writing and crafting a series of creative non-fiction pieces that explore the experience of a person with a particular disease, especially if it is your own. Students would be introduced to the concept of narrative medicine and encouraged to use writing to think deeply and reflect on some aspect of the art of medicine.
Cancer, Creative Writing
Using DepMap to visualize gene expression and genetic dependency in cancer cell lines
The Dependency map (DepMap) portal provides access to key cancer dependencies analytical and visualization tools. the DepMap uses CRISPR gene knockout to describe genomic dependencies in cancer cell lines. In this project, we will first identify a gene of interest through literature review and understand the qualitative nature of mutations of this gene in cancer cell lines. Then we will visualize dependency scores for genes of interest for each major type of cancer. Using the data and literature, we will be able to understand the correlation between levels of gene expression and genetic dependency in cancer cell lines, potentially leading to interesting research targets. If the student has a background in coding, there are numerous ways to visualize gene expression in R. However, no background in coding is necessary, as DepMap provides a user-friendly interface.
Music, Cancer, Chemistry
