HOMETOWN HERO: Martin County High School student presents her research at the UN
This week's 'Hometown Hero' is on a mission to make our world a safer and healthier place to live.
Nina Goyal first came on in May of last year along with her older sister, , after they both won first place at the Florida State Science and Engineering Fair in their respective categories.
Now, Nina is speaking about that same research on the world stage.
The Martin County High School sophomore got the opportunity to present her research at the United Nations Science Summit Youth Parliament in New York.
The 15-year-old has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture for the last four years— looking into new, clean, sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides and herbicides.
She was one of just 25 kids from around the world chosen to speak about her work in front of an audience of hundreds of people.
"It was so cool," Nina shared excitedly. "I got to meet all of these really amazing people from around the world, which is very interesting, and they all had done amazing research projects that they were sharing as well so it was interesting to be able to hear about that and what they were doing, and, talk about what I was doing."
Nina says her interest peaked during the COVID pandemic.
She wanted to know exactly how the mRNA vaccines worked and once she learned more about the process, she reached out to the USDA to see how that same process could be used in agriculture instead of medicine.
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She explained a little bit about her research:
"My project is on using RNA interference and antisense oligonucleotide treatment to suppress the expression of vital genes in pests and weeds, thus leaving more nutrients for crop plants and resulting in greater crop yields. The great thing about dsRNA and antisense oligonucleotides are that they are highly specific, meaning that they only affect the organism that it is intended to affect, since it is made to that organism's messenger RNA, and no other organism around it. Therefore, if I use these on weeds or pests, it will not affect the crop plant. These are also highly degradable, meaning that they do not stay in the environment for long periods of time. By using these, we can suppress vital genes in weeds and pests, which weakens them, and allows the crop to grow stronger and produce a greater crop yield. As the population is increasing, the demand for food increases as well. Currently, we are using chemical pesticides and herbicides, however these are very bad for our environment and human health. Studies show that these pesticides and herbicides lead to cancer. Therefore, we need new, sustainable solutions to meet this increased demand for food - such as dsRNA and antisense oligonucleotides."
The UN has a list of 17 sustainable development goals they want to reach and Nina got to talk about how her research applied to their goal of ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture.
Nina says she will continue to work with the USDA as they work to try and figure out how to reduce the costs of these treatments.
Meanwhile, Nina also started a nonprofit aimed at making music education more accessible to people around the world.
The teen started with worksheets, videos and vocabulary that anyone can use to learn music theory or singing for free.
As a singer herself, Nina has found great joy and an outlet through music, and she hopes to give other kids that same experience.
To learn more, visit the SoFlo Music Academy .
