2025 Nobel Science Projects for K-12 Students

Explore and experiment with student science projects related to the 2025 Nobel Prizes.

Explore Nobel Prize Science with Student Projects and STEM Lessons

Each year, the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology or Medicine recognize breakthroughs and discoveries in STEM that have reshaped our understanding of the world and opened doors to new research and development.

Students inspired by the 2025 Nobel Prize winners can experiment with related science concepts with hands-on science and engineering projects that explore foundational chemistry, physics, and human biology. See our suggestions below for student experiments in areas of medicine, chemistry, and physics.

Medicine & Immunology—"for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance"

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for the discovery of regulatory T cells and the role they play in the immune system. Their research on Tregs (regulatory T cells) and the FOXP3 gene explains why the immune system, which normally defends against bacteria and viruses, doesn't attack the body's own cells. What these scientists uncovered explains how mutations in the FOXP3 gene are related to autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes and opened the door for new treatments of autoimmune diseases and treatments that help prevent organ transplant rejection.

Above: Illustration showing how regulatory T cells protect the human body.
© The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén

Students can explore the immune system, genetics, and human biology and health with projects like:

• Modeling the Chances of Getting an Autoimmune Disease: Use M&M's® candies to model the immune system and the role genetics play in whether or not someone gets an autoimmune disease.
• Fighting the Flu: How Your Immune System Uses Its Memory: Make a model of the immune system to investigate how it protects the human body from common illnesses and to explore the role the immune system's "memory" plays in this process.
• From Genes to Genetic Diseases: What Kinds of Mutations Matter?: DNA mutations cause a number of genetic diseases, but not all DNA mutations result in disease. In this science project, students use the NCBI genetic database to investigate the genetic mutations that cause cystic fibrosis.

Educators can connect student learning to this year's Nobel Prize-winning research with these lessons about gene mutation and the immune system:

• How Gene Mutations Change Your Ability to Taste: In this taste-test lesson involving phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) for grade 6-8, students learn about genotypes and phenotypes, the process of DNA transcription, and how single nucleotide mutations sometimes lead to protein changes.
• Immunotherapy: How Antibodies Can Be Used to Treat Diseases: In this lesson for grades 8-12, students do a series of activities to explore the role of antibodies in the immune system. They also investigate the use of monoclonal antibodies as part of immunotherapy to treat diseases like cancer.
• Fighting Infections with Your Immune System: In this lesson for grades 6-8, students build a model of the immune system to simulate how the body responds to invading bacteria or viruses that cause diseases and to investigate the role of memory cells.

Chemistry & Materials Science—"for the development of metal–organic frameworks"

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi for research on the development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), crystalline materials made from organic molecules linked to metal ions. MOFs contain large, porous, internal spaces (the "cavities" shown in the diagram above) through which gases and other chemicals can flow. MOFs have a large internal surface area and are highly adsorbent. These frameworks have a range of possible uses, from harvesting water from desert air to carbon capture, and may be instrumental in addressing environmental science and sustainability challenges.

Above: Diagram of MOF-5, a material with internal cubic spaces created by Omar Yaghi in 1999. A few grams can hold an area equivalent to a soccer field.
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Students can explore related chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology, and environmental science with projects and activities like:

• Adsorption: Dyeing Fabrics with Kool-Aid: Dye wool with Kool-Aid® to explore principles of adsorption and absorption.
• Removing Microplastics from Water with Ferrofluids: Explore nanotechnology and materials science by testing the use of ferrofluids to remove plastic pollution from water.
• Which Filtration Material Leads to the Best Drinking Water?: Investigate how particle size relates to the efficiency of an activated carbon filter for cleaning drinking water.
• Can You Change the Rate of a Chemical Reaction by Changing the Particle Size of the Reactants?: Experiment with Alka-Seltzer® tablets to learn more about surface area and the effect of the particle size of the reactants in a chemical reaction.
• Capable Carbon Filters: In this STEM activity, students explore the use of activated carbon and adsorption to filter water.

Educators can connect student learning to discussions of an MOF's high surface area, with this lesson:

• Reaction Rates: When Surface Area Matters!: In this chemistry lesson for grades 9-12, students use Alka-Seltzer® tablets crushed in varying particle sizes to explore the relationship between surface tension and the speed of a chemical reaction.

Physics & Quantum Mechanics—"for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit"

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for demonstrating that quantum effects can occur in large, visible electrical circuits made from superconductors. Previously, quantum mechanics had only been observed at the molecular or atomic level. Their groundbreaking work demonstrated quantum tunneling (when a particle passes through an energy barrier it would not normally be able to overcome) "in a system big enough to be held in the hand."

Above: Illustration of quantum tunneling
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

While quantum mechanics may be well outside of most physics curricula, students encounter technologies every day that rely on these principles. The transistors in computer microchips, for example, operate based on quantum effects. The research recognized by this year's Nobel Prize sets the stage for new quantum technologies, including sensors, cryptography systems, and quantum computers.

Students can explore related principles of physics, electricity, circuits, superconductors, and magnetism with projects like:

• Build a Simple Electric Motor!: Make an electromagnet and use it to build a simple electric motor and study how changes in the configuration affect the motor's rotation. This project covers the basics of electromagnetism and motors and includes discussion of Fleming's left-hand rule for motors.
• The Strength of an Electromagnet: When turned on, electromagnets act just like permanent magnets, but if you turn them off, their magnetic properties disappear. Make an electromagnet by wrapping a coil of wire around an iron core and then experiment to see if the number of coils changes the electromagnet's strength.
• Build Your Own Super-sensitive Electric Field Detector: Build a super-sensitive charge detector to investigate the electric fields created by static electricity.
• Simulate Microchip Clean Room Contamination with Crayon Leaf Rubbings: Explore semiconductor technology by simulating the problems created by dust contamination in a clean room.
• Efficient LED Circuit Design: Explore how to minimize power consumption and maximize efficiency in an LED circuit.
• Magnetic Levitation: Experiments with 'Anti-magnets': Learn about diamagnetism and experiment with materials that are repelled by both poles of a magnet. (Projects like this reinforce the relationship between current, magnetic fields, and materials.)

Educators can connect student learning to this year's Nobel Prize-winning research with this lesson about the physics of circuits:

• The Math Behind Circuits: In this lesson for grades 4-6, students explore different types of circuits and make calculations to gain practical skills in building, visualizing, and understanding circuits.

Make STEM Career Connections

The awarding of the Nobel Prizes presents a great opportunity for educators to talk with students about STEM careers. The Career Discovery Tool helps students learn about STEM careers that may match their interests.

Nobel Prize Winners & Student Science Connections from Previous Years

• 2024 Nobel Science Projects for K-12 Students
• 2020 Nobel Science Experiments for K-12 Students