Outreach and Education

New Jersey Science Olympiad: Protein Modeling

At Science Olympiad tournaments, teams participate in a variety of events ranging from Egg-O-Naut to Herpetology. Placement in individual events counts towards placement in the overall competition. In New Jersey, protein modeling was a trial event for high school students at all three regional tournaments and at the state finals.

Before the day of competition, teams built a model of the full ribonuclease structure based on PDB ID 1rta. In this model, teams are encouraged to include "additions" that help tell the functional story of ribonuclease. They also provide an abstract/key that describes features highlighted in their model.

Models built before the competition were judged for accuracy
and how well they told the functional story of the molecule.

At the event itself, teams have 50 minutes to build a section of an assigned PDB structure and answer questions about the structure, function, importance, and history of ribonuclease. For all sections of the event, students are encouraged to use the Molecule of the Month, the PDB file, Jmol and the Structure Explorer page. Resources to help students prepare for the event are available at education.pdb.org, including a video that demonstrates how to build a 3D model of a zinc finger.

Top Results at the 2009 NJSO Tournaments

	First Places	Second Place	Third Place
State March 17	Bridgewater-Raritan High School	West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South	Livingston High School
Northern January 15	Westfield High School	Livingston High School	Montville
Central January 8	Bridgewater-Raritan High School	West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South	Princeton High School
Southern January 10	Mates Academy	Moorestown Friends School	Eastern Regional High School

Congratulations to all participating teams–there were many great models, abstracts, and responses to the written exam. Special thanks to our judges from the RCSB PDB, the NJ Science Olympiad organizers, and to the MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling for the design of this event.

All 2009 results, pictures, and tips for future competitions can be found at education.pdb.org/olympiad.