2,893 Inspirational Passion Project Ideas

Turn inspirations into your passion project.

This collection of project ideas, shared by Polygence mentors, is meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Check out some projects

Tranexamic Acid as a treatment for drug-induced angioedema

High blood pressure is one of the most common conditions in adults worldwide and medications such as lisinopril are commonly used to treat it. However, some patients develop a dangerous side effect called "angioedema" when they take this lisinopril, which can cause serious complications. In this project we review tranexamic acid as it is used medically to treat such patients and provide rescue therapy for drug-induced angioedema.

Cancer, Healthcare

Gaurav

Systematic review on urban youth risk for using marijuana.

This project searches and analyze relevant published articles to determine the risk of urban youth using marijuana. It aims to understand the factors that may cause urban youth to use marijuana and identify strategies to address it.

Healthcare, Public Health

Angelo

How is antibiotic usage in hospitals affecting in-patient and out-patient outcomes?

Current antibiotic treatments leave room for antibiotic resistance among patients admitted to the hospital as well as after they return home. Due to this, the negative effects of antibiotic usage could be a factor that further exacerbates negative patient outcomes. This project would rely on the student to perform diligent literature searches on in-patient and out-patient results following antibiotic usage.

Healthcare, Medicine

Alejandro

Community Focused Health Analysis

Population data on disease within a particular geographic region is critical to both clinicians and health systems. It helps inform strategic decisions on how to tailor services to particular patient population. This project would describe and analyze rates of disease incidence within a specific community of interest and provide ideas for targeted solutions.

Biology, Arts, Healthcare, Business

Avery

How Genes Work

Pick a genetic condition, such as Danon disease, and learn about the symptomology, treatment options etc. Present your findings in a research paper.

Cancer, Healthcare

jacqueline

The impact of social determinants of health during the postpartum period

This project assesses how social determinants of health (ie. food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation, language barriers) impact the postpartum or post-delivery period. Students can screen women who have recently given birth for social determinants of health and interview them on how their various social needs have influenced their postpartum care and experiences.

Biology, Healthcare

Grace

Understanding how people's upbringing affects their diet and risk for obesity

This project aims to understand how people were raised could affect their diet and therefore their risk for obesity. It aims to interview people to understand how they believe the way they were raised influence what they eat and impact their health.

Healthcare, Public Health

Angelo

Start Your Business!

Have an idea? Looking to grow this into an actual business? As an entrepreneur and Harvard teaching fellow in management, I'll help you (1) create a business plan using relevant frameworks, (2) find a market willing to pay for your product or service, (3) respond to customer feedback to grow a strong, successful company.

Literature, Healthcare, Business

Luke

Investigating the Impact of Exercise on Mental Health in Teenagers

This research project focuses on exploring the relationship between physical activity and mental well-being in teenagers. The objective is to understand how regular exercise influences mental health parameters such as stress levels, mood, and overall emotional well-being in adolescents. By conducting this study, the student aims to contribute valuable insights to the fields of both exercise science and mental health.

Healthcare

Geoffrey

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Child Food Insecurity

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools transitioned to virtual learning, limiting students' access to free and reduced price meal programs. Students would investigate how this additional barrier impacted students' food security status and associated health outcomes including BMI and mental health. They could investigate one particular region, or compare discrepancies between states or districts. Students would write up a paper outlining what they learned and recommendations.

Healthcare, Public Health

Rachel

Business and Personal Finance

I would like to explore the relationship personal finance (financial literacy) and a person's desire to work in the business field, whether as an entrepreneur or business related career field. This could be a presentation/lecture on the importance of financial literacy or could be written as an essay.

Biology, Psychology, Healthcare, Business

Paul

Teen Entrepreneur Marketplace

Create and manage a small-scale marketplace within the school or local community, allowing fellow students to showcase and sell their handmade crafts, artworks, or unique products. This project not only fosters entrepreneurship but also teaches valuable skills in marketing, finance, and customer service. Market Research and Idea Generation: Conduct surveys and interviews among students to identify popular interests and potential products. Encourage participants to brainstorm and develop unique product ideas that align with their skills and interests.

Healthcare

Geoffrey

How will personalized medicine affect the costs of medical care?

Medical care is very expensive at its current state. The outlook in personalized medicine may seem promising, however our current healthcare model may not be able to accommodate such increased expense for lower-income patients. The student may compile the various modes of personalized medicine and engineer strategies on how to implement them in our current healthcare system.

Healthcare, Medicine

Alejandro

Creating Content

In this project, you can teach anything of your choice on a platform online such as YouTube or Udemy. This process will teach you to read scientific literature, draft a script and create an online presence.

Healthcare

Chanchal

Examining the Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Interpersonal Violence

A devastating unintended consequence of the Covid-19 Pandemic has been an increase in domestic violence cases, particularly among marginalized and under-resourced communities. This project will investigate how the pandemic has interacted with interpersonal violence through the lense of structural inequities.

Philanthropy, Healthcare, Public Health

Zoie

The ways in which COVID-19 impact different races and why - a literature review

Studies show that Black communities and populations were much more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counterparts. Why does this disparity exist?

Biology, Healthcare, Medicine

Christina

Literature review on intubation techniques done for patients with COVID-19

A literature review that would look at various case reports regarding intubation techniques used on patients with COVID-19, to assess whether invasive intubation techniques were used for patients presenting with respiratory distress. With COVID deaths being attributed to respiratory failure, intubation, or the insertion of a breathing tube into a patient's airway, was often a procedure used to maintain patency of the airway of these patients. This is an invasive procedure, and the decision of whether or not to intubate a patient approaching respiratory failure is a fragile one. We can aim to look at the rates at which COVID patients underwent intubation, as well as any specific tools or methods of intubation that were more common on these patients. Students can use this research idea to learn more about anesthesiology, surgery, epidemiology, immunology, as well as physiology.

Biology, Neuroscience, Social Science, Healthcare, Medicine

Salman

How to create a sustainable business

Review criteria for Environmental, Social, and Governance. Look at successful businesses with high scores and see how that could apply to new company.

Environmental Science, Healthcare, Public Health

Jayson

Availability of Mental Health Services Over time in the U.S.

Use publicly available datasets (for instance, the National Mental Health Services Survey) to analyze the availability of mental health services in a U.S. state over time. Plot the type of service offered and analyze the demographics of people served. How does availability of services for children compare to adults and older adults? What proportion of facilities accept Medicaid/Medicare/public funds (making services accessible to low income populations)?

Cognitive, Healthcare, Public Health

Juliana

Call to action - Improving access to Interpreters in the Surgery Department

Is there something in our society you feel needs to be improved, or something you can do better? This is how a lot of research ideas are born. Some of my family members do not speak English and as a medical student I noticed that they were not getting great medical care. This is how I started my quality improvement project on improving access to Interpreter Services in the surgery department. Based on your research interest, we can tackle a project together to work towards a creative final product, like a blog post, infographic, creative writing essay, or even an interpretive dance. Based on your research interests, you can build skills like data collection with surveys or interviews, reading the literature on the topic, etc. We'll work together to find a creative way to present and show off your work!

Neuroscience, Surgery, Healthcare

Evelyn