Westridge’s Manon I. ’26 Wins at the Los Angeles County Science Fair for Bone Density Project
Westridge School congratulates Manon I. ’26, who won awards in the 2022 Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair for her project titled “Purrfect for the Bones – Association of Living with a Cat on Women’s Bone Density.” In the junior division, she took home 1st place in the animal physiology category and 1st place in the UCLA Brain Institute’s “Outstanding Projects Related to Neuroscience.”
Manon said she was inspired to do the project because her grandmothers have osteoporosis, a low bone density disease, and cannot take medications due to severe heartburn side effects. In her research about the disease’s pathology and prevention, she found that it disproportionally affects women. One interesting treatment she found was vibration therapy. (Vibration helps stimulate bone formation, which is what is lost low bone density disease.) Manon found out that her favorite animal—cats—release vibrations when they purr. She wanted to see whether the vibrations cats produce could act as a potential therapy, similar to vibration therapy. With the support of Westridge teachers including her advisor, Lower School Science Faculty Liz Kim, and Middle School Science Faculty Barbra Chabot, Manon contacted medical and senior centers to see if they would let her conduct research by surveying older women about their age; whether they had a pet and if so, what kind and for how long; and about their bone density. The project—a cross-sectional epidemiological study—took about three months, as 409 people agreed to be interviewed. After analyzing the data, she found that the longer a woman lived with a cat, the more likely it was for them to have normal bone density among her sample which supported her initial hypothesis.
“I’m just very grateful for everybody in the Westridge community who helped me,” Manon said. Throughout the process, she learned about the research experience, how to get preapproval, and scientific calculation. “I was just so thrilled that Manon was inspired to pursue more challenging science endeavors all on her own, and she managed everything beautifully by staying on top of the due date all on her own,” said Kim, her advisor.
After her experience at the Fair, Manon wants to help fellow Westridge students get excited about science! She hopes to create a club to teach other middle schoolers how to come up with ideas and go through the process of participating in a science fair.
Westridge School, 324 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, (626) 799-1053 ext. 200 or visit www.westridge.org.
