PCCC Team Takes First Place in sySTEMic 2025 Challenge

For the second consecutive year, a PCCC team took the First Place award in the Annual NNJ-B2B / Garden State-LSAMP show your STEM innovation challenge (sySTEMic).

PCCC biology majors Judiht Hilares, Ameerah Shafi, and Brigitte Valladares were awarded the top prize for their innovation to address the spread of malaria. They will receive $100 from GS-LSAMP and an additional $500 each from B2B.

This year’s challenge topic was Malaria, an infectious disease – prevalent in hot, tropical climates – that has killed more people than any other illness in history and is on the rise again globally, according to an informative video that opened the program.

Narrated by Dr. Cris San Miguel, host of the event and the Assistant Director of GS-LSAMP, the video explained that malaria is caused by a parasite and is spread to humans through the bite of infected female Anopheles (night biting) mosquitoes. These insects are drawn to stagnant water where they tend to lay their eggs.

PCCC’s winning presentation LARV: Malaria Prevention Through Larval Control, focused on the African country of Nigeria where malaria is highly prevalent, and proposed to reduce the incidence of malaria by controlling the population of Anopheles mosquitoes.

This would be achieved by killing the larvae (recently hatched forms of the insect) before they mature.  The team created capsules that contain spores of two types of bacteria, both with proteins toxic to mosquito larvae when ingested. One bacterium kills the larvae quickly while the other remains active longer, providing both immediate and long-term effectiveness.  

The capsules are not harmful to humans, other animal-life, or the environment and could be placed near any vulnerable area in or around a home, particularly near bodies of standing water, in gutters, etc.

They would be packaged in two-month supply bags and delivered to residents of vulnerable communities in Nigeria at a cost of two dollars per bag.

Dream Team  (l to r)  Venus John –   Kathleen Toxqui –   Stephanie Martinez-Gervacio –   Cristy Sarmiento –   Samuel Vasquez

Dr. San Miguel praised the solution as “excellent and environmentally friendly.”

A second PCCC team with students Venus John, Cristy Sarmiento, Samuel Vasquez, Stephanie Martinez, and Kathleen Toxqui also focused on Nigeria.  They, too, innovated a capsule, but theirs contained  bacteria that would prevent transmission of the malaria-causing  parasite to humans bitten by a carrier mosquito.

Both PCCC teams worked under the supervision of PCCC biology professor, Dr. Kala Mayur.  Dr. Mayur also oversaw PCCC’s 2024 First Place winners with their innovation of “Fermentation Farms” to address the global issue of food insecurity.

Judiht Hilares of PCCC’s winning team initially wondered if “a humble solution” like theirs could actually win. “Our team believed in what was possible, and that made all the difference,” she said. “I appreciate the constant support of Professor Mayur and Professor Van Aken and all the science professors at PCCC who support teams like ours.”

Other participants this year were County College of Morris, Hudson County Community College, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers-New Brunswick, and William Paterson University. 

The event was judged by Dr. San Miguel and Professor Thom Van Aken, a PCCC science professor and the Project Director of B2B. We are PCCC Proud of our sySTEMic 2025 teams!  

Written by Linda Telesco
Photos courtesy of PCCC STEM