Eastport-South Manor Students Win State Science Fair Award

Three Eastport-South Manor Junior-Senior High School students placed fourth in the biochemistry category at the New York State Science and Engineering Fair for their research on antibiotic resistance.

Alex Silbert, Logan Silbert and William Steinacher advanced to the semifinal round, ranking among the top projects from 450 statewide entries. The team studied how the bacterium Burkholderia ambifaria resists lactam antibiotics like penicillin through a protein called beta-lactamase.

The students mapped the structure of the Buam beta-lactamase protein and identified two compounds that could inhibit its resistance mechanism. Their work produced a detailed protein structure with accurate atomic positioning that could guide development of drugs to counter antibiotic resistance.