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Winning projects

What strong projects actually look like — the question they asked, the design that survived review, and the one decision that made the difference.

Archive entries are summaries compiled for study. Read them for how a project was structured, argued, and defended — not as a template to reproduce. Copying someone else's project is the one thing that will end yours.

9 projects

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Nanocellulose Hydrosponges for 6PPD-Q Removal

Lakshmi Agrawal

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2026

Reported roughly 80% removal of the target contaminant, using 85% less energy and costing 98% less than the alternatives it was compared against.

  • water-treatment
  • 6ppd-quinone
  • nanocellulose
  • +2
advanced

RetinaMind

Edward Kang

First place · Regeneron STS 2026

An AI screening tool that reads retinal images for patterns associated with autism and ADHD, paired with cellular models built to examine the genetic factors that might explain the association.

  • medical-imaging
  • machine-learning
  • retina
  • +2
Biomedical & Health ScienceTranslational Medical Science
advanced

Solvability of Equations in Elementary Functions

Nikola Veselinov

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2026

A new theorem giving conditions under which an equation cannot be solved in elementary functions, developed by combining ideas from topology, symmetry and Galois theory.

  • pure-mathematics
  • galois-theory
  • topology
  • +1
advanced

A fruit fly model of STAC3 disorder

Ava Grace Cummings

First place · Regeneron STS 2025

Both adult flies and larvae showed improved movement under treatment.

  • rare-disease
  • drosophila
  • myopathy
  • +2
BiologyGenetics
advanced

Pultrusion and Extrusion to Recycle Filament

Benjamin Davis

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2025

Reported about 45% greater efficiency than comparable systems at roughly 90% lower cost.

  • 3d-printing
  • recycling
  • pultrusion
  • +2
EngineeringEngineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics
advanced

Real-Time Assessment of Deteriorative Airborne Risks

Siyaa Poddar

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2025

Low-cost detectors for toxic silica and uranium dust, built from colour-changing chemistry stabilised inside metal-organic frameworks, developed with Indigenous communities near abandoned mines in the US Southwest in mind.

  • air-quality
  • metal-organic-frameworks
  • colorimetric-sensing
  • +2
advanced

A Novel Second-Order Cone Programming Algorithm

Michelle Wei

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2024

A faster algorithm for second-order cone programming, a convex optimisation form that sits underneath applications in machine learning, transportation and financial systems.

  • optimization
  • convex-programming
  • algorithms
  • +1