RSS 2.0 FeedJanuary 20, 2011, Bellmore Life
Kennedy/Calhoun students are Intel semifinalists
CHSD recognizes Science Superstars.
The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s Advanced Research Program continues to pay handsome dividends to the district since its modest beginnings as the Science Research Program by then-Superintendent Dr. Mark Bernstein in 1999.
Jenny Wu from Calhoun High School and Joshua Cohen from Kennedy High School were announced as semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search Program annual competition to find the best and brightest high school students in the country.
Jenny won for her studies in tumor targeting, by developing a drug combination that delivers strong doses of medication directly to diseased cells without harming healthy ones. Her drug combination has been shown to be effective on breast cancer cells.
Joshua won for his studies dealing with the role mangrove aerosols may play in global atmospheric conditions and changes such as global warming.
The new biomedical trend
Jenny’s project, “Synthesis: Biological Evaluation and Potential Synergy of Taxoid SBT 1214 and Topotecan in Tumor Targeting Drug Conjugations Bearing Duel Warheads,” is similar to an earlier project that helped her also garner semifinal recognition in the national Siemens’ Competition in Math, Science and Technology last fall. [See Merrick Life, November 18.]
In her work at Stony Brook University last summer under Dr. Iwao Ojima, head of the school’s department of chemistry, and graduate assistant Addison Zuniga, she worked with two chemotherapeutic medicines, topotecan and taxoid 1214, both potent anticancer agents.
“I worked at synthesizing the agents first, it was all organic chemistry,” she said, using chromatography and other tools at her disposal to create the compounds. “Then there was the microbiological aspect to it,” she added.
She then tested the drugs separately to see how they worked. But the whole idea of the exercise, from day one, was to experiment to see if the two drugs working together as conjugates could “increase cytotoxicity at the cancer location.”
By activating one, it would activate the other to produce a double whammy to the site.
Among many exciting aspects of the research was the “pilot” drug in the whole scheme, the one chemical that could find the cancer cells and leave the healthy ones alone.
“I needed a tumor targeting module that would differentiate between normal cells and cancer cells.” She found it in biotin and folic acid, both normally thought of as vitamins.
Her study consisted of three parts: making or synthesizing the compounds; evaluating whether these compounds could work together synergistically; and testing them on cancer cells.
The plan, then, involved developing and then getting the two anticancer agents to the cells by way of folic acid and biotin.
Once in the cancer cells, a powerful chemical in all cells called glutathione would activate a disulfide sent to the site along with the other compounds to, first, activate the taxoid, and in turn to activate topotecan.
The two would then work in tandem to kill cancer cells, in this case breast cancer cells. That process she called a drug delivery system.
Because of Jenny’s earlier dreams of getting involved in pain management, the project helped her define what her work may very well be in the future. She has accepted a scholarship to Yale University over other schools such as MIT and Columbia because of the biomedical engineering program it offers.
“I also want to have a well-rounded liberal arts education, and Yale is such as beautiful campus” with a great library, she said.
“It’s a good fit for what I want to do scientifically.”
Our changing atmosphere
Meanwhile, Joshua, while admitting it is his wish to attend university to study biomedical engineering, went in search of mentor Dr. Josephine Aller at Stony Brook University to discuss project ideas with her. She had been down in the Caribbean with several students among the mangroves, and came back with an idea for Joshua.
From those discussions came his study “Atmospheric Properties of Biogenic Aerosols Produced by Mangroves.” Working during the summer of 2010 at Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Science with Dr. Aller, he also worked with Peter Alpert and Dr. Daniel Knopf.
“Aerosols are small particles in the air, such as salt, carbon and soot, that affect the atmosphere, such as absorbing and scattering solar radiation [light and heat]” for example, Joshua told Merrick Life.
“Aerosols can also be created by breaking waves, for example, releasing plankton and salt particles into the atmosphere,” he said.
He focused on both black and red mangroves to discern if there was differentiation between them, and if those differences could lead to possible affects on the atmosphere.
His study focused on such things as different sizes of particles emanating from the mangroves, such as salt, manganese and carbon; their elemental composition; and their hygroscopic growth, how they expanded when exposed to increased amounts of water vapor.
Increased growth from water vapor, or humidity, could affect atmospheric visibility, for example, or its chemistry, Joshua said.
Particles sizes from black mangroves came in from 3-12 microns, he said, where red mangrove sizes were generally larger than 12 microns.
When pressed about the importance of particles sizes, he noted that even though the larger the particle size generally meant there could be implied more absorption, reflection or deflection of light, smaller particles could produce equally profound effects in the atmosphere.
The integrity of large particles could be compromised, for example, rendering them to less effect than anticipated.
In this strict sense, it could not be determined if black mangroves had more effect on the atmosphere than red mangroves.
And magnesium and carbon could reflect organic material, for instance, he said.
The findings of the study could lead the way to more research on these topics, he suggested.
His methodology involved studying aerosol particles in slides under microscopes and using image analysis software.
But, ultimately, the study was designed simply to find the possibilities of a difference in sizes of aerosol particles in mangroves and their possible effect in the environment.
“Specific biogenic aerosols can affect global warming,” Joshua said of his study.
To begin his studies in biomedical engineering after high school, Joshua has applied to Duke, Rice, the University of Rochester and MIT, with a leaning toward Duke University. “I have an interest in medical imaging,” he said.
In the meantime, Joshua likes to read and play saxophone. He is currently a member of Kennedy’s jazz band and its woodwind ensemble.
