Jason Gandelman
Senior
Staples High School
Westport, Connecticut

Jason's high school research investigated toxic compounds called Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs), which are known to contribute to the long-term health problems associated with diabetes, a disease his family has a long history with.

Jason's study showed that yeast has evolved mechanisms to minimize the formation of toxic AGE compounds. Attempting to identify a protein that will block the human body's receptor sites from binding with AGEs, Jason believes his study will lead to new medications to prevent or cure blood vessel and kidney damage associated with diabetes.

Jason is president of his high school engineering team, investment club and debate team, which finished third at the Harvard National Debate Tournament. He counts stock investment as a hobby, and has served on the Westport Youth Commission for four years. A long-time volunteer, he has received recognition for his water quality work with Earthplace. He is also fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Jason has achieved Finalist status in the Intel Science Talent Search, the Siemens Award for Advance Placement - Math and Science, 2010 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, as well as many Connecticut State honors.

Jason aspires to continue conducting research in biological chemistry at Harvard University.

Anirudh Mohan
Senior
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Alexandria, Virginia

Anirudh's primary passion lies in the field of biomedical engineering, with an interest in pursuing both technical and business perspectives.

During his last two years of high school, he conducted nanobiotechnology research at George Mason University. His research involved the nanoengineering of polymers to synthesize novel, “smart” diagnostic devices which can be utilized in lieu of conventional techniques, such as differential diagnosis.

Anirudh published his results in American Chemical Society journals. He has achieved semifinalist status in the Siemens Competition, and received multiple science fair honors at the Virginia State level.

Anirudh is an avid competitor in his school's Lincoln-Douglas and Student Congress Debate teams. Founder and later captain of his school's Student Congress team, he was recognized as a top 32 Lincoln-Douglas debater in the nation by the National Catholic Forensic League. He also has strong interests in music and computer science. He developed an online "peer-to-peer" service tutoring for elementary and middle school students in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. He is also interested in supporting two causes K-8 education and autism awareness outreach.

In the Fall, he will pursue his studies as an Angier B. Scholar at Duke University.

Michelle Bagley
Biology Teacher
Centennial High School
Ellicott City, Maryland

Michelle has been an educator for 30 years teaching biology and research, a passion she developed doing science fair projects during her own school years. Michelle has written curriculum for the county and the National Association of Biology Teachers and has made numerous presentations for conferences and organizations on a variety of topics.

Michelle has been at Centennial High School since 1991. She currently works with students in the Intern/Mentor Program as part of the Gifted and Talented Program. In addition to teaching research to her AP Biology students, she also works with 9th grade Biology students and 8th grade students in a nearby middle school to challenge and foster a desire to excel in science and research.

Among her students, Michelle boasts winners in the Siemens Competition, Christopher Columbus Life Science Student Award, Intel Science Talent Search, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and many others. Michelle has been honored as a Presidential Scholar Teacher, a Coca-Cola Educator of Distinction, and Intel Teacher of the Year.

She has also served on the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Advisory Council and the National Council of the National Honor Society, and is currently working with Northrop Grumman Corporation with the Young Engineers and Scientist Seminars to promote students entering the field of science and math.

Ms. Bagley holds a BS in Biology and a Masters in Education and certification from the University of Pennsylvania. She continued her education at the University of Maryland at Baltimore where she conducted experiments with andriamycin, a chemotherapy drug used to treat breast cancer.

Ryan Templeton
Biology Teacher
Mathematics and Science High School at Clover Hill
Midlothian, Virginia

Ryan Templeton teaches freshman Biology and AP Biology at the Mathematics and Science High School at Clover Hill, where he also serves as Research Coordinator. Emphasizing and encouraging student research in his classes, his students conduct independent research projects and present their findings at national and international competitions.

As Director of the Governor's School for Life Sciences and Medicine, Mr. Templeton coordinates a four-week program that exposes students to a wide selection of health-based careers in a residential setting. Students study medicine from the patient, scientist, and community perspective and shadow physicians in their final week of the program. Having served five years as a teacher for the program, Mr. Templeton took over as Director in 2006, He and has earned commendations from the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition, which gave the school a “Programs That Work” award in 2008 for its impact on teaching and learning in the life sciences.

His efforts have been recognized by the Virginia Academy of Science with an E.C.L. Miller Teaching Award, and a Virginia Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, as well as commendations from the Virginia Department of Education and Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition.

Mr. Templeton received his BS in Biology and a Masters in Education, Curriculum and Instruction at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Derrick C. Wood
Chemistry Teacher
Conestoga High School
Berwyn, Pennsylvania

Teaching at Conestoga High School since 2004, Derrick instills the same passion for Chemistry that he experiences - by showing his students that Chemistry is not an exercise in futility, but is extremely relevant to their lives.

He authored Case-Studies for his High School Chemistry curriculum and uses them as an alternative and authentic way of integrating the lab component into Chemistry, giving his students the opportunity to experience science in the same way it is done outside the classroom.

Derrick has further stimulated interest through his innovative teaching methods and Independent Study projects. Derrick’s personal interests relate to Analytical Chemistry, and he has shared his knowledge and experience with numerous Independent Study students. By utilizing donated supplies and equipment, his Independent Study students took a motley assortment of parts from old, nonfunctional systems and built working Gas Chromatographs and High Performance Liquid Chromatographs. Once operational, a variety of authentic research experiments were completed using the newly revived pieces of instrumentation. These projects have given a wide variety of students the opportunity to obtain hands-on experience with instrumentation and techniques not typically observed or conducted until taking advanced courses in a college science major.

Derrick has given presentations at NSTA and ACS National Conventions where he shared his curriculum with teachers across the country. In Derrick’s opinion though, his greatest accomplishments are “the students that have graduated from Conestoga with a passion for science and have pursued college majors and careers as a result of the same love for science that I embrace.”

Mr. Wood received his BA in Chemistry at Drew University and a Masters in Chemistry Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Derrick is the Head Coach of Conestoga's Science Olympiad Team, and has consistently led his students to medal in the top 5 teams at the annual State Competition.

James F. Leary, Ph.D.
SVM Professor of Basic Medical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering
Birck Nanotechnology Center
Purdue University
Lafayette, Indiana

Dr. Leary is conducting research designing "next-generation", advanced nanodelivery systems for drugs and genes to combat cancer and other diseases. He has invented a variety of new nanomedical devices with targeting molecules that deliver therapeutic drugs precisely to diseased cells to perform single cell "nanosurgery", which eliminate the diseased cells while trying to preserve nearby normal cells, allowing for much smaller drug doses and fewer side effects.

Dr. Leary will also receive up to $25,000 in research funds, which may be used to hire a graduate student to assist with the research or on the research itself.

In 2007 Dr. Leary was elected a Fellow of the AIMBE (American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering), the highest honorary for biomedical engineers in the United States, for his pioneering work in the invention of high-speed flow cytometry and rare-event analysis as well as his more recent work in the design of bionanomedical systems. His research has been funded for more than 25 years by NIH and his is the holder of 8 US patents with 6 currently pending.

Dr. Leary received a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Penn State University.

Justin Grzyb
Senior
Westchester Country Day School
High Point North Carolina

Justin Grzyb is a Senior at Westchester Country Day School, a college preparatory school in North Carolina. Justin was introduced to science at a young age, as both his parents are engineers. When he had questions, they took the time to explain how things worked, which captured his imagination. Beginning in middle school, he took advanced math classes. In high school he gave up his elective period to take extra math and science classes.

During his freshman year, his dad took a job in Baltimore, so that summer Justin took a pre-calculus course at the Johns Hopkins University for Talented Youth. He ultimately met Professor Tim Weihs, who invited Justin to work in his lab at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins the following summer. That first summer he spent his time endlessly reading research papers and learning about technology surrounding NanoFoil, a reactive thin film composed of alternating, nano-scaled layers of Nickel and Aluminum. By the end of the summer, he was collecting data on his own and making a real contribution. The next summer he was given his own project—find a way to create uniform, curved particles of NanoFoil, and then measure the reaction velocity of these particles inside a vacuum. After a summer of trials and tribulations, he was successful. His work was acknowledged in two different research papers, and he is the co-inventor on a provisional patent for creating microscopic particles of NanoFoil.

In addition to his science endeavors, for the past three years Justin has been the president of the school debate team, and was a Senate campaign volunteer. With a friend he began MYPART, an organization to raise poverty awareness in the local community. For the past four years, he has participated in Chamber Singers at school and has taken voice lessons at High Point University. He also sings and plays rhythm guitar and ukulele in a local rock band, Tomahawk Child, with friends.

Upon high school graduation, Justin plans to attend Cornell University School of Engineering to pursue a degree in chemical engineering, and taking part in the Air Force ROTC program. He was recently nominated as a Rawlings Cornell Research Scholar, which will allow him to spend the next four years working on his own undergraduate research project.

Henry Zheng
Senior
Centennial High School
Elliot City, Maryland

Henry Zheng is a senior at Centennial High School of Howard County, Maryland. Since elementary school, he has enjoyed science and math. In high school, he developed a keen interest in applied mathematics for biological engineering, specifically with the functioning of artificial limbs and its integration with the human nervous system.

Since his sophomore year in high school, Henry has been an intern at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) under the supervision of Dr. Jeffery Lesho of the Biomedical Engineering Group, doing background research in the areas of brain computer interface (BCI) and prosthetics control, writing a survey paper, and making presentations. As a junior, Henry applied for the Intern/Mentor Program, which only accepts the most advanced and dedicated students.

While at APL, he worked on his computational neuroscience project that improves the performance of arm prosthesis. His research has garnered recognition at many competitions. He also published and presented his research results at the international FUSION 2008 conference in Cologne, Germany.

Henry entered his research in the Howard County Math, Science and Technology Fair and received a top award. He was a regional finalist in 2008-2009 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology as well as a semifinalist in Intel Science Talent Search.

The day before Henry received the Life Sciences Biology Student Award in Washington, he was presented with the American Academy of Neurology Foundation’s Neuroscience Prize in Seattle, Washington. This year Henry’s extraordinary work is being recognized from coast to coast.

Beyond his interest in science, Henry is also an accomplished classical pianist and has been recognized for his dedication to community service as a 2009 Coca-Cola Scholar.

Beenu Gupta
Biology Teacher
The Charter School of Wilmington
Wilmington, Delaware

Since 1996, Beenu Gupta has taught AP and Honors Biology at The Charter School of Wilmington in Delaware. The Charter School is a college preparatory high school with a focus on mathematics and science, and was ranked 41st in the 2008 issue of U.S. News and World Report America's Best High Schools. Mrs. Gupta’s classroom is like the “Disneyland of Biology,” complete with students singing and dancing as they dive into Molecular Biology.

Beenu is the director of the school’s annual Science Fair and head coach of the Science Olympiad, Envirothon, and Biology Competition teams. Last year, her team won first in the nation in the National Canon Envirothon. In 2008, one of her students was a National Gold Medal winner in the International Biology Olympiad. The Charter School has been State Champions in the Delaware Science Olympiad and Envirothon competition, and Beenu has brought home the Outstanding Coach Award since 2000.

Beenu is also the moderator for the Anti-Tobacco Club, the Habitat for Humanity Club, and the Unite for Sight Club. Her list of awards includes: The 2007 US Presidential Scholars Program Teacher Recognition Award, 2008 Governor's Youth Volunteer Service Award, the 2008 Educator of Distinction Award from the Coca-Cola Scholarship Foundation, and the 2008 Environmental Educator Award/Teacher of the Year from the Delaware Nature Society.

What inspired Beenu to become a teacher? "While debating how to finish my PhD, I took some courses at the University of Delaware and I was astonished to see the lack of concepts and knowledge that students had prior to entering college. I have always been passionate about learning and teaching so I decided to be a high school teacher, where I could provide a solid foundation for college-bound students. My goal has always been to make learning fun, valuable and a life-long experience."

Mrs. Gupta received her formal education and teaching certificate from the University of Delaware. After finishing a Masters in Zoology from India, Mrs. Gupta received a University fellowship grant to finish her Ph.D. in neuroscience.

Bryon E. Petersen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Dr. Bryon Petersen has been recognized worldwide as a foremost authority in hepatic stem cells and their role in Liver Pathobiology. He is currently conducting research in stem cell biology and how it relates to the patho-physiology of the liver. Dr. Petersen’s seminal paper in the journal Science (Science 284: 1168-1170) helped usher in the stem cell field as we know it today. This research showed that bone marrow derived cells could become functioning hepatocytes, and several clinical trials have been attempted based upon his discovery. In addition, Dr. Petersen is investigating the usefulness of gene/stem cell therapy in the treatment of certain inherited metabolic diseases of the liver (Crigler-Najjar Syndrome (C-NS) and Glycogen Storage Disease (GSD)).

Children with C-NS are unable to eliminate bilirubin from their bodies and, therefore, must undergo daily 12-hour exposure to special blue lights, just to survive. Without daily treatments, a child would suffer brain damage, muscle and nerve damage and death due to bilirubin toxicity. Children with GCS suffer in a different way, having to eat/drink a corn-starch meal every four hours to maintain their blood glucose levels. If they don’t, they become hypoglycemic and will fall into a coma and die. To date very few options are available for treatment of these diseases. Liver transplantation is an efficacious therapy, but the number of donor organs is limited, requires life-long immune suppression and in most cases is cost prohibitive. His studies combine two high-profile fields--stem cells and gene therapy--that will hopefully cure these children of their disease, not just treat them.

In addition, Dr. Petersen’s laboratory is working on whether or not bone marrow derived cells can be a useful approach in the treatment of Type-1 Diabetes. His lab has shown that bone marrow derived cells can be differentiated into insulin producing cells, which can then be transplanted into mice and correct their hyperglycemia.

Dr. Petersen continues his work on bone marrow-derived stem cells, elucidating the mechanisms behind the signals to which they respond as well as how they repopulate a damaged liver. Dr. Petersen’s lab has demonstrated temporal and profound role of several different molecules such as (SDF-1, G-CSF and SST) on stem cell proliferation and differentiation, which will be critical for successful hepatic tissue engineering.

Lastly, Dr. Petersen has begun to work on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and therapeutic targeting of stem cells in HCC will be highly significant, especially since several cancer stem cells are being identified in solid tumor settings.

Dr. Petersen received his BA from the University of Iowa, and his MS and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. His post-doctorate training continued at Pitt in the Department of Pathology, where he was promoted to Research Assistant Professor. In 2000, Dr. Petersen took a faculty position at the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor and is currently an Associate Professor with tenure.

Peter Kamel
Centennial High School
Ellicott City, Maryland

Peter Kamel is currently a junior at Centennial High School. Peter conducts after school research at the Johns Hopkins Hospital on a patent-pending artificial tissue material that changes color in response to an internal temperature influence. The change is a result of a cascade of chemical reactions that take place when the tissue is heated. Peter’s research findings are important, as doctors will be able to accurately profile tissue damage when treating cancer through a procedure known as heat ablation.

Peter looks forward to continuing his research during his remaining time in high school, entering college and eventually becoming a doctor.

Stori Jensen
Brighton High School
Salt Lake City, Utah

Stori Jensen is currently a senior at Brighton High School in Salt Lake City, UT. Stori conducted after school research under the supervision of Dr. Andres V. Maricq in the neurobiology laboratory at the University of Utah. During her research, Stori isolated and identified pharmacological agents found in the venom of cone snails which modulate the function of the brain. Stori discovered that the venom contains a complex molecule that targets a specific group of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain.

Stori’s research has identified molecules that can alter brain function and has led to a major discovery in brain function and the treatment of neurological disorders. This process has been patented – with Stori as an equal partner in the patent.

Stori will begin her undergraduate studies at the University of Utah this Fall.

Paul Cammer, Ph.D.
Director, Neurobiology Research Laboratory
Thomas Jefferson High School for
Science and Technology
Alexandria, Virginia

In 2007 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Fairfax County, Virginia, was ranked as the number one school in the Nation by U.S. News and World Report. This distinction is due in large part, to the innovative teaching methods implemented by the faculty. Students at TJ are high-achievers, and the teachers must put forth special efforts to keep their students challenged. Dr. Cammer is one such educator. When Dr. Cammer was teaching freshmen, he required each of them to prepare a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation to the class as if the student were the research scientist at a conference of his or her peers. Many of these students have returned from college to tell Dr. Cammer that particular project was the “single most difficult yet most useful task they performed in high school.”

He now teaches mostly upperclassmen, who he continues to challenge far beyond what they think is possible. In addition to Advanced Placement Biology, Dr. Cammer teaches Senior Research in Neuroscience, as well as classes in Neurobiology, Physiology and the Arts, and Bionanotechnology at TJ.

Dr. Cammer received a B.A. in Biology at San Jose State University, and a M.S. in Biochemical Toxicology and Ph.D. in Biochemical Toxicology at Purdue University.

After a career in government and private industry, Dr. Cammer found his passion in teaching. He has been a teacher at TJ since 1996.

Christine E. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Laurence E. McMakin Professor of
Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Schmidt is conducting research in neural cell and tissue engineering, a subfield within bioengineering. Dr. Schmidt has invented a chemical process to modify human nerve tissue so it may be utilized for patients with nerve damage. In particular, she works on engineering advanced biomaterials and therapeutic devices to stimulate damaged peripheral and spinal neurons to regenerate and promote healing of damaged nerve tissue due to traumatic injuries, cancer and other diseases.

As one of her advocates stated, “Few engineers are working on the problem of neural regeneration (much of the research is strictly biological), and there are not other researchers utilizing a holistic approach to understand and stylize such a broad range of signals (electrical, chemical, biological, mechanical) for stimulating nerve regeneration.”

Currently, there is no adequate off-the-shelf option for nerve injuries suffered by over 10,000 people annually. One of Dr. Schmidt’s technologies was licensed to AxoGen Inc., which initiated clinical trials last year. To date, over 100 of AxoGen’s AVANCE nerve grafts have been successfully implanted into patients with peripheral nerve injuries. She is also developing other advanced biomaterials, based on hyaluronic acid nature biopolymers and synthetic electrically conducting polymers, for both peripheral and spinal cord nerve regeneration.

Dr. Schmidt is world-renown for her expertise and contributions in neural engineering. She is a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences and workshops and has written extensively on the subject in the highest quality of journals. She currently serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, International Journal of Nanomedicine, and the Encyclopedia of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering.

Dr. Schmidt received a B.S. in chemical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was an NIH postdoctoral research fellow with Dr. Robert Langer at MIT for 18 months, during which time she collaborated with surgeons at Harvard Medical School in the area of nerve regeneration.