Maharishi School student Atreya Dey concluded that natural means of insect control should be employed rather than chemicals on crops for industrial production in order to decrease production costs and reduce harm to humans.

Maharishi School student state finalist in biotech competition
by Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, USA, The Review
4 March 2010

Maharishi School student Atreya Dey was recently named one of two Iowa finalists in a statewide biotechnology competition and has received a $400 travel award and an invitation to compete in the sanofi-aventis Midwest Regional BioGENEius Challenge, a competition for high school students who are doing outstanding research in biotechnology in the Midwest.

The region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The title of Mr. Dey's project was "Comparing the Effects of Commonly Used Insecticides on Alpha-amylase Activity." He investigated why insecticides reduce the effect of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that is very important in industries that use starch degradation. His research showed that insecticides slow down the rate of starch degradation, which in effect slows down the manufacturing process of such industries.

He concluded that use of corn and other pesticide-treated crops used for such industrial processes are not only harmful to humans but increase the cost of industrial production. Therefore, other means of insect control—more natural methods—should be employed rather than chemicals.

His research earned him the honor of competing in the Midwest Regional level.

If Mr. Dey does well at the regional competition, he will receive an all-expense paid trip to compete at the sanofi-aventis International BioGENEius Challenge, which will take place in Chicago in May.

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