By Scott Brinton
That is, she took a class on how to feed mice so they are well nourished, and how to handle them with gloves and a surgical mask to ensure that they do not get sick and die.
That was step one in a two-year research project that recently earned the 18-year-old Kennedy senior semifinalist honors in the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, formerly the Siemens-Westinghouse Science Talent Search.
For her project, Levine, of Merrick, studied the effects of an experimental drug to treat depression and schizophrenia called trans-Pat. She conducted her research at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan under the direction of her mentor, Dr. Nancy Bivens. Levine is a participant in Kennedy's Authentic Science Research Program.
Levine began with a course in the proper treatment of mice, which she tested trans-Pat on. Columbia-Presbyterian's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee offered the class.
In preliminary mice tests, trans-Pat appeared to treat depression while minimizing the weight gain that is often associated with other anti-depressants, Levine found. Keeping weight gain to a minimum is critical, she said, because as depression patients grow heavier, negative views of self are reinforced, which can lead to a deeper psychosis. The drug was first tried on mice and will soon be tested on monkeys before it goes to clinical trials with humans.
This past summer, Levine logged 500 hours in the Psychiatric Institute's laboratory. On average, she was there 10 hours a day, and she had a three-hour commute both ways.
At the end of her 13-hour days, Levine said, "I was dead."
Barbi Frank, a Kennedy Advanced Placement biology teacher, who was Levine's mentor at school, said, "She was doing some major research."
Levine took only one break over the summer - to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in Washington, D.C. in August. Not surprisingly, Levine wants to become a psychiatrist.
This past week, Levine finished reworking her Siemens project for entry in the Intel Science Talent Search. Frank said that Levine wrapped up her work two days before the deadline and then helped her peers edit their research papers. "It was one of the nicest things I have witnessed," said Frank, who described Levine as a perfectionist.
"The day she found out she was a Siemens semifinalist, we spent hours critiquing her paper," Frank said. "She realized she had so much more work to do. She was just striving for perfection."
Frank added, "I'm just very proud of her. She has given her whole heart to [science research]. She's just a really, really nice person. She's grown tremendously since 10th grade. She has the passion that is necessary to make a difference in the world."
Levine's course load at Kennedy is full of Advanced Placement and Honors classes. She has no lunch. Her one respite is playing flute in the band. She played on the Kennedy soccer team in ninth through 11th grades, but gave up soccer this fall to work on her research project. She will play varsity lacrosse in the spring. She is also vice president of Kennedy's science club, and she is active in Temple Beth Am in Merrick. She hopes to attend Columbia or Johns Hopkins next fall.
"I've always been really fascinated by the brain and how it controls your emotions," Levine said.
Olivia's mom, Barrie Graham, said her daughter learned myriad skills beyond science research while working on her Siemens and Intel projects. "It's not only about just by participating in the science research program at Kennedy," Graham said. "She learned a lot of great life skills. She learned how to communicate effectively with adults. She learned great presentation skills. She learned how to work in a professional environment. As a high school student, that was a great experience."
Her father, Jeffrey Levine, said, "For her to attain this achievement [Siemens semifinalist status], we were really proud of her. We were really very, very proud of her, and happy for her. She really strives to be the best in whatever she does."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
