Hebron Academy

Daniella Lyons of Greene, a 2006 graduate of Hebron, was recently named a winner in the first global student contest, “Portrait of My DNA” by Scitable, an online science community for students, educators, scientists, professionals and lifelong learners.

Scitable invited students to submit creative interpretations of their personal DNA in the form of text, images or video. Four winners were chosen from hundreds of international entries by science students from around the world.

Lyons, 21, a biology major at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, was awarded third place for her poem describing an extended analogy between the building blocks of her personality and the principles of nucleic acid structure and function.

First-, second-, and third-place winners received scholarships in the amounts of $1,000, $500 and $250, respectively, as well as recognition by Nature Publishing Group.

“Scitable’s mission is to help students who are interested in science careers better achieve their goals, by providing them authoritative online research material and the ability to connect with practicing scientists and researchers for advice or answers to thorny questions 24/7,” said Vikram Savkar, Publishing Director of Nature Education, a division of the Nature Publishing Group (NPG), which launched the site earlier this year.

“Part of that mission is to help students understand at an early stage that science is fundamentally a creative endeavor. The ‘Portrait of My DNA’ contest was created to encourage students to bring whatever creativity they have – photography, poetry, painting, videography - to the science they are learning in their classes.”

First-prize winner Matej Bórik, 24, is a student at the University of St. Cyrill and Methodius in Slovakia, where he is studying physics, mathematics and genetics. Bórik’s winning submission was a negative-printed photograph of his city at night, representing the inverse nature of the genetic code. The science department at the University of St. Cyrill and Methodius also received a $1,000 award to be used for student scholarships.

Second place went to 20-year-old Farmingdale College student Chris DiMaio, a pre-med student and native of New York, whose painting expressed the complex set of relationships between DNA, proteins, living organisms, and the principles of evolution.

Since its debut, Scitable has received rave reviews for its clear and authoritative presentation of genetic information and online tools designed to facilitate collaboration between students, teachers and scientists. Upcoming features include a weekly video program, a regularly-scheduled podcast and the extension of coverage from genetics to other natural and physical sciences. For more information, visit www.Nature.com/Scitable.