Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly one in six deaths, according to the World Health Organization (4). RAS genes (HRAS, NRAS, and KRAS in mammals) are the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human cancer and therefore, are considered one of the most important targets for anticancer therapy. (5). Acting as binary molecular switches, RAS genes alternate between a GDP (off) state and GTP (on) state. When in the GTP state, they transduce signals which regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, and more (1).

The origins of my research project start in my 10th grade AP Biology class. My teacher was lecturing on DNA and its biological function for storing cellular information, which she described as analogous to computer storage. It was an interesting analogy that I expanded on with genes being “files” stored in the genome “hard drive.” I eventually began to wonder if it was feasible to use DNA directly for computer storage, as after all it must possess incredibly high storage density to be viable for its biological purpose.

I was always a nature person and felt connected with the outdoors. There was something therapeutic about being alone by the water- just a wandering mind and the constant breaking of the waves along the shoreline. To me, the raw beauty of the environment is worth preserving because the small moments where we get the chance to truly appreciate nature are the most memorable ones. In a time where economic gains are prioritized above the state of the environment, it is disheartening to see that the environment that took billions of years to form is being dismantled in a span of decades … As I learned more about the major issues surrounding oceanic life and climate change, I became drawn to corals, who played pivotal roles in the balance of marine ecosystems while maintaining their intrinsic beauty.

Human brains are way too complicated with billions of neurons and hundreds and even thousands of trillion connections that are still not completely understood. Because of this, studying a smaller “brain” permits one to better understand how the brain and the neural network influences the behavior of a creature. The C. elegans’ connectome is the ideal network to research because of its simplicity (only consisting of 302 neurons and the fact that it has been completely mapped out.

Since 2014 I have watched forests and farms struggle against the spotted lanternfly. As I saw my community struggle I decided to take action. I organized “scraping parties,” where I taught others the dangers of the spotted lanternfly and how to scrape their egg masses. Additionally, I created a YouTube video and many flyers that teach about the importance of eradicating the spotted lanternfly. I even planted over 600 grapevines at a local vineyard, to make up for the ones lost due to the spotted lanternfly… I changed the focus of my project to determine the feeding pattern of the spotted lanternfly, using phloem sap from the spotted lanternflies’ host plants.

Did you know that we’ve been studying the expanses of outer space longer than our own brains?! The term neuroscience was coined barely a century ago, proving how little we know about the 3 pound supercomputer within each and every one of us … as I started reading background literature, I became hooked! I found it incredible the way the brain stores the people, places, and items we see everyday like shelved books in a library.

Sensitive crop regions are constantly under environmental stresses that foster plentiful plant disease. Basil plants, for instance, have been victims of Fusarium oxysporum (F.o.) wilt for decades, where growth conditions have stimulated progression of this disease, and subsequent crop destruction. A simple and effective treatment that would eradicate F.o wilt, while promoting overall plant growth, is needed. Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have shown to improve plant health and overall crop yield, due to systemic movement through the plant’s root system, where the nutritional value of metallic nanoparticles is fully realized.

A few years ago, my best friend returned from her vacation to the island of Cozumel off the coast of Mexico with a GoPro full of images she had taken while paragliding, hiking, and relaxing on the beach. Most interesting to me, however, were the photos she had taken while scuba diving in the coral reefs that surround the island. As we scrolled through dozens of pictures of corals, I realized that my friend, like millions of other tourists, had in her possession a treasure trove of information about the health of the coral reefs of Cozumel at the time she visited.

My study looked at neural activity during different types of visual depth perception in 8 subjects using an EEG, mainly focusing on how we perceive depth in real life. There are two different types of visual depth - pictorial depth (depth on a two-dimensional plane, induced by pictorial depth cues such as shading) and stereo depth (true three dimensional depth believed to be induced by binocular disparity). In real life, pictorial depth cues and binocular disparity are both present in our daily experiences, which leads to the simultaneous perception of stereo and pictorial depth.

The world is in a state of environmental disarray and one way this can be fixed is through looking at past thriving ecosystems and using this information in order to inform future policies. I remember a time before hurricane Sandy, and everything, at least within my community had appeared environmentally sound. I remember the night when Sandy hit, wind incessantly pounded on my window, beckoning to come in, and the sound of torrential down-pour and emergency vehicles filled the night.

Nobel Prize winner Albert Szent-Gyorgyi said, Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different. It was a tenant of my high school research program, one which resonates with me deeply. This was one of many mantras instilled in me by that all-star teacher, Ms. Zeitlin. I learned the importance of looking beyond the journal, the lab bench, and the next deadline in scientific research .

I specifically studied lysosomal distribution in distal axons, or the parts of the axons that were further away from the cell body. I did so using microfluidic chambers which are devices that allow the physical separation of the cell body and the axons . . . Altogether, my research actually suggests that lysosomes are mobile, and can be recruited to degrade waste in neurons axons, instead of staying within the neuronal cell body.

Ever since I was little, my parents have constantly taken me to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. As soon as I rushed through the old wooden doors of the building, I rushed past the dinosaurs, down the stairs, and ran down the hallway to find myself standing in front of the gigantic blue whale. Marine creatures have always inspired me; they’re always out of sight, yet so fascinating .

Current computational devices and techniques are based on silicon microprocessors. Computer manufacturers have been increasing transistor density on computer chip microprocessors at a rate that approximates Moore’s Law, which states that the amount of gates on a single chip will double every two years. Unfortunately, the application of Moore’s Law has been predicted to reach an end because of the physical speed and miniaturization limits of silicon microprocessors. The advantages of DNA Computing include large storage capacity and an ample a supply of DNA, making it a cheap natural resource unlike the cost of fabrication of Si-based computers.

Living in the intermountain west, I believe that there isn’t a more important resource to both humans and wildlife as water. Along with my early childhood interest in science, I have always been concerned about the availability of water, remembering times when our well water was low, barely yielding enough water for bathing due to the diversion of surface water for agriculture, as well as worsening drought conditions. I was also worried about the overuse of water by humans for seemingly trivial reasons, with little regard to wildlife or habitat needs.

My project originated long ago, when I was barely an infant. Almost every day I visited the Museum of Natural History and had lunch underneath the blue whale after touring the museum, paying special attention to the dinosaurs. Ever since I was young, dinosaurs have held that special interest for me, not in the sense of big scary monsters of a world long gone, but more in the sense of marvels of nature, amazing creatures at the zenith of evolution … when the time came to design my research project, I knew there was only one choice.

When I was little I would get indignant when the distinction was made between “people” and “animals.” I would pout and start talking taxonomy, informing some puzzled companion that actually, people are animals. When I read papers on intelligence and memory in slime molds last year, I was reminded of my childhood crusade to unite the animal kingdom. We share a common ancestry with slime molds as we do plants and animals.

For a moment, just think about it. Think about waking up in the middle of the night, thirsty, and not being able to access water because it is rationed so that the rest of your community can share the resource. Imagine using the restroom and having no water in the toilet because water is only cleaning out the latrine once a day. Although such scenarios seem quite extreme and impossible to many living in first world countries, this can become a reality at the rate at which water is being consumed and the inefficient manner it is being distributed … The water source on Earth is rapidly diminishing, and this is not new knowledge nor of new concern.

When I was little, I always wondered why my parents worked late every day. While my friends went home after preschool, I would stay at my parents labs, waiting for them to finish their research. What was so interesting about science? One day, I begged my dad to show me his experiments. Smiling at my enthusiasm, he scraped some of my cheek cells and put them under the microscope. As he pointed out the nucleus and organelles of each cell, I watched in awe at the hidden complexity within my own body.

Evolutionary Biology is an extremely diverse field, in which studies of evolution occur both on the anatomical and molecular level. The anatomical level of this incredible field includes research like mine, used to reveal more about Earth’s past and creation, and to detail organism relationships using phylogenetic trees. This type of work reveals so much about the past that it is astounding … Archosaurs are an incredibly diverse and evolutionary highly successful group of organisms that include birds, crocodilians, and the now-extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs (Brusatte, 2010).

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed substantial advances in cancer genomics. In fact, large-scale discovery efforts have propelled the identification of hundreds of cancer-related genes in recent years. To be truly transforming, however, key cancer-associated mutations must be profiled systematically in the clinical and translational arena to guide rational cancer therapeutics. This aim has yet to be achieved on a larges-cale, mainly because many methodologies cannot be applied efficiently and reliably on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor samples that are routinely encountered in the clinic and in archived tumor banks.

I am especially interested in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) as an environmental issue as well as an economic and policy issue. Within the United States honeybees contribute to the success of one-third of U.S. agriculture; furthermore these insects are responsible for countless jobs and many billions of dollars in revenue. They are the unsung heroes of harvests of numerous fruits, berries, and nuts, and therefore crucial to the long-term viability of our global economy.

Physarum polycephalum is an organism that one cannot help but find interesting. This single-celled amoeboid is able to self-organize and self-optimize without the help of any sort of central nervous system. It can find the shortest path connecting any number of food sources, solve mazes created by physical barriers, and create paths that avoid light. I was introduced to this organism by my mentor, a member of the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics at The Rockefeller University in Manhattan, New York.

I always loved career day as an elementary student because I was able to share that my dad was a rocket scientist. Maybe he was not the astronaut flying into space or sitting in the control room, but I believed he had the coolest job because he was the engineer designing new space cameras . . . My passion for innovation was somewhat out of the ordinary because I was facing a challenge that was very real for me.

I come from an agricultural family: one side of my family owns a 200-acre farm in Oregon and the other owns a plant nursery adjacent to my backyard in New York. Between living right next to the nursery and spending two or three weeks a year on the Oregon farm, I have been exposed to agricultural and horticultural issues my entire life. When report after report of acid-resistant E. coli outbreaks hit the news over the past few years, I became quite interested in the issue as a result of my agricultural background (and my foodie interests).

I guess I was always meant to be a scientist. My aunt who used to babysit me could entertain me for hours with nothing but a glass of water, some spices, and a spoon. Performing my independent research, however, was the first time I ever did science for the purpose of helping others. My family does not have the best genes out there we have a history of a variety of diseases that are so far untreatable .

Before I entered high school, my older brother returned from his lab each day with a story about his work. I could always hear his excitement when he talked about his project. I knew I wanted to try my hand at research but the microarray analysis procedures he described did not appeal to me. Volunteering then at a local hospital, I wanted to pursue a hands-on study of disease, but was unsure how to go about it.

Before high school, I was never the one whose favorite subject was science. I loved to hang out with friends, read, and write; a future in science had never particularly appealed to me. My first week of high school changed that. Through the Science Research Program at my school, I have been able to have the amazing opportunity to work in a cancer research laboratory at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY, one full day a week, as well as 2-3 days after school, and 3-4 weeks during the summer.

My project began on my flight from Long Island, New York to Northfield, Minnesota. I have always been a highly curious person, drawn to new knowledge and understanding of any topic. Yet, as I sat on that plane, beginning to read about the latest research in the behavioral biology of baboons, I did not realize Primatology would become a passion . . . At the Carleton College Summer Science Program I studied under Professor Annie Bosacker .

Dengue fever affects 50-100 million people annually (Rigau, 1998). Scientists have recently developed genetic manipulation techniques to create transgenic mosquitoes refractory to disease transmission. The success of this strategy hinges on the dispersal of such genes throughout a population via matings of transgenic with wild-type mosquitoes. However, little is known about mating competitiveness of transgenic mosquitoes, or female mating patterns of mosquitoes in general . . . This study explored assortative mating of mosquitoes.

Computational science is playing a growing role in basic medical research in many ways. A key aspect of medical research and subsequent drug development is understanding exactly how biological systems operate on a macro and micro level. Through modeling of biological molecules, cells, tissues, and organs, and the networks of interactions, scientists can explore the mechanism through which these systems operate. Agent-based models are comprised of multiple, interacting agents situated within a model or simulation environment.

On my highly anticipated field trip to the ice skating rink in the eighth grade, I broke my leg within five minutes. I waited in a daze on the ice, thinking I had just sprained an ankle, until I felt the bones in my leg jiggling. The ambulance immediately came, I was shipped off, and put to sleep. When Iwoke up, Dr. Martin, a renowned orthopedic surgeon, announced to me that I had a broken tibia and fibula, both in multiple places, and am bleeding internally.

In fact, for a time, I really was stuck. For the entire summer between sophomore and junior years, my research project rusted in a corner, because I had not yet discovered the true meaning of “computational” in computational biology. To me, “computational” was still the four major operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; I was computing numbers, much like a cheap, gas-station calculator. Little did I know, however, that there is an entire field of artificial intelligence focusing on classifiers, statistical learning methods, and intelligent systems .

My advice to other high school students who wish to pursue math and science is to never feel intimidated. Problem solving techniques in engineering and science involve application of mathematics spanning various facets, such as statistics to calculus to abstract algebra and topology. When it becomes necessary to learn and apply them, do not feel intimidated by their complexity; it may be hard to understand some of these concepts at first, but it is important to be persistent.

The Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis), is the genus of bark beetles causing the greatest amount of damage to pine trees. Southern Pine Beetles (SPB) live in the phloem, the layer just under the bark. The beetles tunnel their way through the pine tree’s phloem as they eat, cutting off the circulation of nutrients, and ultimately killing the pine. As the average temperature of the globe increases, minimum winter temperatures are no longer reaching the lower lethal point in many areas.

Inflammation occurs when leukocytes (white blood cells) leave the blood stream by passing between endothelial cells, the cells that line the walls of blood vessels, and move into the surrounding tissue. Endothelial cells actively change shape to allow leukocytes to pass between them, but this requires an increase in surface area that would not normally be allowed by a cell membrane. To allow this shape change, extra membrane and molecules that assist in the migration of the leukocytes are released from a compartment in endothelial cells called the Lateral Border Recycling Compartment (LBRC).

Though I had a huge fear of bees, as many other people do, I was fascinated by the complex cognitive tasks these insects could perform despite their miniscule brains. I read numerous articles about how bumblebees were able to communicate with each other using various signals, such as by secreting pheromones to indicate when they have been successful when searching for food. It became clear to me that I wanted to study how bumblebees interact with each other and how their behavior affects their success during foraging.

Being that I am a twin, I sought after genetic studies to quench my rooted fascination with the potential biological linkage between family members, and furthermore, siblings. People would constantly question an existence of some bizarre twin connection; if your brother has to sneeze, will you have to as well? No-but could that be possible? If he develops a rare disorder, will I become susceptible as the next victim? As I explored the complexity of human psychology in association with genetic variability, I was amazed at the myriad of possibilities, both inheritable and environmentally stimulating, that may cause the onset of Schizophrenia.

Section 1 For as long as I can remember, I have always had an immense love for animals. When I was little, around 6 or 7 years old, all I wanted was a puppy. Every moment of every day, that’s all I would talk about, constantly asking my parents to please buy me a puppy. Finally after either seeing my side or not being able to stand my nagging, my parents gave in and said that I could get a puppy.

I sat as still as the humid air around me, on soft yellow sand lightly punctuated by pebbles and twigs. With my eyes, I followed an advancing motion that was shaking the lowest branch of one of the bushes that surrounded my little island of sand. Slowly and deliberately the motion progressed forward until, upon reaching the threshold where the protection of the leaves ended, it stopped. A minute or so later, an elaborately patterned green head emerged from the leaves and two intense black eyes focused on my surroundings and me.