RUSSELL — According to Elizabeth Hanechak of Russell, a sophomore at Pope Francis Preparatory School in Springfield, science is her everything. Judges at the Western Massachusetts Science & Engineering Fair on March 10 seemed to agree. 

Hanechak’s biochemistry project, “The Deletion of a Disulfide Bridge through Site-Director Mutagenesis to Adapt Cutinase to the Biodegradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate,” was awarded the Sanofi Specialty Grand Prize Award at the regional fair at Western New England University. Her top award also earned her a slot in the International Science and Engineering Fair in Dallas.  In addition, Hanechak will be moving on to the state finals at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on May 6.

This was Hanechak’s second year in the regional contest, winning a second place prize in physical sciences last year as a ninth grader for her plastic waste project, “Could Dietary Supplements Solve the Plastic Problem?”

Putting this year’s project in plain English, Hanechak explained that she is mostly focused on trying to find a practical solution to the plastic problem. She said recycling doesn’t really work, because less than 4 percent of the 51 million tons of plastic in the U.S. gets recycled annually; and incineration doesn’t work, as it is well known that burning plastic releases toxic chemicals.

Hanechak said biodegradation uses naturally occurring microorganisms to degrade the plastic, but is very slow and takes a long time, making that solution also impractical.

“My research was trying to improve an enzyme shown to degrade plastic, to make it work faster and more efficiently,” she said, adding that the experiment went pretty well, “Beyond what I was hoping for – my mutations degraded the samples 55 percent better than [others]. One degraded an entire plastic sample within 24 hours.”

Hanechak said since Pope Francis does not have a high school science fair, she did the research on her own, reading scientific journals for months before coming up with the idea for the research proposal. 

Looking for a mentor, she submitted her proposal to Westfield State University, where Dr. Kimberly Berman, a microbiology professor, took notice.

“She reached out to our department last summer, looking for someone to mentor her. I’ve mentored half a dozen students in the local area over the last six or seven years,” Berman said.  When the call came in, she volunteered to do it, as it folded nicely into her new role as the director of the Pioneer Valley STEM Network.

Berman said when she saw Hanechak’s project proposal, she thought it was ambitious for a high school student with very limited time who still had to be in school full-time, so she gave her other suggestions and ideas.

“She was determined to do this project. It was really what I would consider an upper-level undergraduate research project,” Berman said. “She wanted to take an E. coli strain and make a mutant form of an enzyme. Making a mutant form of anything is not trivial.”

Berman said she and Hanechak had many meetings, to make sure she understood the science. In November, they started meeting in the university lab once or twice a week.

Hanechak said deleting the disulfide bridge in the enzyme, which makes it more stable, was risky, because the enzyme is more likely to fall apart. 

“When you take it away, the enzyme has more surface area and more folding energy to degrade plastic better,” she said.

Berman said the sticking points, the difficulties, happened when she thought they would, and she became concerned that Hanechak wouldn’t be able to make the mutant.

“It got to the point where making the mutant was a little tricky. She did the same experiment with variations for five or six weeks and, literally, the Monday before her project was due it worked; she finally got the mutant she was looking for at the 11th hour, which happens all the time,” Berman said.

Once Hanechak was able to test the mutant strain, it worked better than she would have anticipated the first time.

“Usually you don’t get something that robust for results the first time. I’m happy that it worked as well as it did,” Berman said, adding that her success was a testament to her persistence on the project.

“I put the work in and took the risk, and it seemed to work pretty well,” Hanechak said.

Hanechak said her project received a positive reception from the judges at the regional fair. 

“They seemed interested. It’s a dream come true to be able to talk to these scientists,” she said, adding that most of them are interested in solving the problem of plastic waste. “It’s really scary to think about in the future, but it’s exciting to see people working on it. It gives you new hope, that all is not lost.”

Hanechak said Pope Francis has been very supportive throughout the science fair project, giving her access to most scientific journals and time off to go to the university lab. The school will also give her the week off to travel to Texas for the International Science Fair in the third week of May.

She said the work was costly, and mostly due to her age, she was not a candidate for most grant programs.

“My mom funded my project. It was rather hefty in cost,” Hanechak said.

Berman said it definitely helped that Hanechak had great support at home, including frequent rides back and forth between her school and the university.

“For one experiment, she would come in the morning early [before school] and then come back in the afternoon. It definitely helps, the great support at home. I’m excited to see how it goes for this national conference,” she said.

Although science has captured Hanechak’s attention, she is also involved in a few other activities.

“I am a captain of the robotics team (I am the lead for information design and development leadership); I am the secretary for Key Club. I am in the National Honor Society, I am a student ambassador, I am on the school Climate Crew, and I am on the quiz team. I also play volleyball and tennis. Outside of school, I am the senior patrol leader for Boy Scout Troop 124 chartered here in Westfield, and I am a member of the American Legion Post 124 Auxiliary group. I am in the STEM pathway at school, so I take many science and math classes [and] electives,” Hanechak said.