Staff Photo by Matthew Kadosh

Millburn High School students, who competed in the Siemens Foundation Math Science and Technology Competition this year, stand in a high school chemistry lab this week. Shown from left are science research teacher Paul Gilmore with students Alex Lin, along with twins Allen Lee, and Jason Lee.

A Millburn High School duo, who competed in the Siemens Foundation Math Science and Technology competition earlier this month, has furthered research to fight superbugs - antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Allen and Jason Lee, 17-year-old twins, competed in a team with another student from Virginia that secured a $10,000 award from the Siemens Foundation for their efforts. They competed first at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then in the national finals held at George Washington University.

"It's been quite a surprise that we got this award, and we feel really fortunate to have participated," Allen, who along with his brother are juniors, said in an interview this week.

The twins conducted the research on the antibodies at Virginia Commonwealth University along with fellow student David Lu, of Henrico, Va., but their motivation for the research came right from Millburn High School.

"We researched a way to combat antibody resistance, which are superbugs," Allen said. "The reason we got into this is because there has been a lot of media attention, and we heard in our biology class that in 20 years the antibodies we currently use will not be effective any more."

He said that they took a computer-aided approach to researching different compounds that might be used as antibodies. They processed some 50 compounds to see which ones were effective in antibiotic resistance, Allen said. In the end, he said, they found two compounds that were effective in creating the antibiotic resistance they were looking for.

Jason said, "You have a lot of compounds and you take what best fits into your protein."

The Lees said they hope to work with a chemist to further develop their research into a chemical effective in combating antibiotic resistance.

Originally posted here:

Super team with Millburn High School students fights superbugs