Teen co-authors study with aquaculture professors

After working on a project with Virginia Tech’s Aquaculture Center for more than a year, Karl Sorenson, a 14-year-old Salem High School freshman, recently competed against 39 other students as a semi-finalist for the 2007 Discovery Channel’s Young Scientist Challenge.

After several of his fish died in his aquarium at home, Sorenson wanted to figure out a way to treat sick fish. He approached the staff at the Aquaculture Center with a project proposal to anesthetize fish to determine why they were sick before they died. 

The staff was intrigued and gave Sorenson scientific literature in addition to pointers on how to handle fish in the laboratory. Sorenson and researchers at the center decided to use cobia, a large, warm water fish, in order to find the best anesthetic.

Sorenson used three anesthetics and examined the blood chemistry of cobia with a special machine to understand which anesthetic was the least stressful on the cobia. Very little is known about cobia, which is predicted to be a food fish in the future.

The Aquaculture Center plans on using Sorenson’s research in a scientific journal publication that he will co-author with center director, Ewen McLean, and researcher, Steven Craig. He will be the youngest co-author the center has ever worked with.

Sorenson was awarded the “Star Gazer” prize for being the “most observant” during the science challenges. His prize is a trip to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. to work with astronomers at a research station at Anderson Mesa.

 “To even have gotten in the top 40 says a lot about the student and our aquaculture folks who have worked with him on the cobia project. Cobia could help the U.S. make up its fish deficit of $8 billion annually. The topic is incredibly important to the U.S. economy,” said Lynn Davis, the college’s public relations director.

11/25/08