Siemens honors science students

The study of science is alive and well in the Five Towns, as one Lawrence High School student has been named a regional finalist in the annual Siemens Foundation Competition in Math, Science & Technology, and two others from LHS, as well as two students from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and the Rockaways, were named semifinalists.

The competition, administered by the College Board, awards college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 in individual and team categories. Established in 1900, the College Board is a not-for-profit association that offers students to opportunities to boost their college success. It comprises more than 5,700 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.

Leading the quintet is Atlantic Beach resident and Lawrence High School senior Ashley Chapin, who earned regional finalist status for her research project, “The Role of GABA-A Receptors in the Proliferation and Migration of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells.”

Conducted under the guidance of Dr. Stacy Blaine and Sheryl Smith at SUNY Downstate, Chapin’s research could potentially lead to a new method of fighting breast cancer, as she discovered that drugs that inhibit GABA (a neurotransmitter found in the brain and recently discovered to exist in cancer cells) substantially reduce breast cancer cell production and movement.

“To be able to work in a professional lab and acquire results that make an actual difference is the most rewarding part of the experience,” said Chapin, who added that she had an interest in microbiology before undertaking her project. “I was completely amazed and overwhelmed. To accomplish something this incredible is great.”

Chapin will compete in the regional finals at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh Nov. 19-20. Regional winners compete for up to $100,000 of scholarship prizes at the national finals at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Dec. 3-6.

Abraham Killanin, a senior from Inwood, and Samuel Sussman, a junior from Cedarhurst, are Lawrence’s two semifinalists. Killanin and teammate Evan Schneider of Roslyn High School conducted their research project, “Gold and Platinum Nanoparticles’ Effects on Dental Pulp Stem Cells Growth and Differentiation,” at SUNY Stony Brook, under the direction of Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, and were mentored by Tatiana Mironava and Vladimir Jurukovski.

Killanin’s project topic was spurred by a lecture he attended at Stony Brook about stem cells and the everyday use of nanoparticles. “You have the debate on embryonic stems, but so many dental stems cells are so easily attainable,” he said.

Microscopic nanoparticles are used in MRI scanning, Killanin said, to highlight differences between internal body structures. When platinum nanoparticles were applied to dental stem cells, the cells displayed the ability to produce osteocalcin, a protein generated when the stem cells are in their early stages of changing to bone cells. “We were looking to speed up the process,” Killanin said.

Sussman teamed with Jason Nong of Tampa, Fla., under the guidance of Dr. Chuanhai Cao of the ASF Health Institute, also in Tampa, to study whether “Coffee Each Day Keeps the Alzheimer’s at Bay.”

Caffeine was previously thought to be the substance that breaks up the plaques that are the trademark signs of Alzheimer’s, but Sussman’s research showed it is actually coffee that produces the elevated levels of anti-inflammatory chemicals that fight the plaque buildup. The most likely next step is animal testing, Sussman said.

“This is a real-world application, and unlike school [experiments], every mistake counts — everything I pour into a test tube counts,” said Sussman, who has spent the past three summers working at the Institute. “I’m glad that I can contribute to the world scientific community.”

HAFTR seniors and Woodmere residents Rebecca Klahr and Jeremy Sacks conducted cancer research. Klahr’s project, “Single Cell Detection of Cancer and Ultraviolet Radiation Damage,” was a partnership with Smithtown High School West student Angelina Seffens, under the direction of Rafailovich and Dr. Marcia Simon.

Klahr and Seffens studied methods of detecting cancer at the single-cell level. The hardness of cancer cells exposed to ultraviolet radiation showed that this could be a useful method in single-cell cancer detection.

“Cancer is all around us, and I wanted to do something to further society’s way of curing cancer,” said Klahr, who lost an aunt to colon cancer. She added that she “felt satisfied that all my hard work was acknowledged,” and thanked Lawrence High science teacher Rebecca Isseroff, who assisted all the students.

Sacks teamed up with Helene Sonenberg and Ayelet Abelow, students at Yeshiva University High School for Girls, in “Comparing the Effects of Gold Nanoparticles on Osteoblasts and Rat Osteosarcoma Cells,” at Stony Brook, under Rafailovich and Dr. Yizhi Meng. Their research found that gold nanoparticles used on cancerous and noncancerous osteoblasts (cells responsible for building bones in mammals) killed only the cancerous cells, which could lead to their use as a cancer treatment.

“I learned that scientific research is a step-by-step process,” said Sachs. “You can’t make a huge discovery without constantly gathering data to come up with a more useful piece of information.”

HAFTR General Studies Principal Naomi Lippman noted that her students’ accomplishments are a reflection of the school, its dual curriculum of general and Judaic studies and an array of extracurricular activities. “It’s quite amazing and very representative of who the students are,” Lippman said.