Aditya Mohan is a grade 11 International Baccalaureate student from Ottawa, Ontario who has always keenly interested in science and the potential it holds to make a difference in the world. Aditya believes that “science is not so much a body of knowledge, as it is a passion that drives its students to innovate and find answers.”
Over the years, Aditya has completed and has been awarded in numerous scientific competitions with his work on biofuels and HIV research. In 2012, Aditya identified the potential Algal Biofuels have in solving our energy crisis and how its high production costs hinder its popularity in the industry. To help mitigate the issue of costs, Aditya designed a novel Algal Biofuel extraction process that produced industry-grade biofuel at the fraction of its current cost. This project, “Algal Biofuels: A Greener Solution” won numerous awards at the Regional Science Fair including the gold medal, and went on to win silver at the Canada Wide Science Fair.
Since then, Aditya has turned his attention to the medical field. Aditya has begun working at a research lab and has been studying the cellular interactions found in chronic diseases such as HIV. He began to research molecular immunology and the effects of cytokines on pathways integral to the immune system and developed a novel HIV treatment to stimulate the production of anti-viral CD8+ T Cells. This work again garnered Aditya many awards at the regional level, including gold and “Best In Fair”. This project, “Development of a Novel Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (TSLP)- Based Treatment for HIV” also won many awards at the regional and National level including silver medal at the Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Ontario, silver medal at the Canada Wide Science Fair, and the Canadian Manning Innovation Award.
Asides from science, Aditya also pursues a wide array of extracurricular activities. Aditya has competed in and won multiple national competitions for the visual arts and creative writing. In addition, Aditya loves Basketball and plays on a regular basis. Furthermore, he is also quite involved with his community. He currently leads a regional organization based on the principles of micro-finance that fundraises to provide entrepreneurial aid to individuals in developing nations. Aditya is also a leader and a representative for many school board wide initiatives. Aditya has also recently begun to focus his time to helping start up and manage an initiative called PROJECT PULSE in the Ottawa region that aims to help students looking to enter the medical field get connected and provide a bridge between professionals and aspiring students.
Aditya plans to go into biomedical research. Aditya is especially interested in medicinal chemistry, drug design and the cellular biology. He is currently also researching nanotechnology for effective drug design and is looking to publishing his research and patenting his ideas.
“I think it is important that students today pursue their passions and realize that in today’s day and age, very little is impossible. As the adage dictates: ‘where there is a will, there is a way.’ At the end of the day, every pursuit of excellence begins and ends with a passion,” says Mohan.
Interested in learning more about other amazing S.T.E.M. students and the latest S.T.E.M. news:
Like us at http://www.facebook.com/developinginnovations.org
Follow us at https://twitter.com/Aidan_Aird
