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Forest Hills teen moves up as finalist in Intel contest

By Tien-Shun Lee

A Forest Hills Bronx High School student and a Bayside Stuyvesant High School student were among the 40 students nationwide who were chosen as finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition last week.

To recognize their excellence in scientific research, Yi-Chen “Lilly” Zhang, 17, of Forest Hills and Varun Narendra, 17, of Bayside will each receive $5,000 in scholarship money, and a chance at winning the top prize of $100,000 which will be awarded at a black-tie banquet in Washington, D.C. on March 11.

“I am completely thrilled. I'm still a little bit dazed,” said Zhang, whose research project examined the influence of pesticides on cockroach allergens associated with respiratory diseases such as asthma.

“I can't believe the cockroach project won over possible cures for Alzheimer's and treatments for cancer,” Zhang added.

Zhang began her research on cockroach allergens the summer after her freshman year, after she met her mentor, Dr. Ginger Chew, an assistant professor at the Columbia University School of Public Health, while she was collecting dust at Bronx Science to be examined in the laboratory for allergens.

Since most allergies to cockroaches are reactions to proteins in cockroach digestive enzymes, Zhang was curious to find out how digestion of pesticides would affect allergen production.

Under Chew's supervision, Zhang cultivated 27 separate 10-roach colonies in rubber tubs, feeding them rat pellets, water and their appropriate sub-lethal dosage of pesticide. Some roach colonies received pesticides containing boric acid, while other colonies received pesticides without boric acid.

Zhang concluded that if pesticides containing boric acid are used, the cockroaches increase their production of an allergen called Blag2.

“The implication is if you're an asthmatic person and you use this pesticide, it might exacerbate your condition,” said Zhang.

Zhang and the other chosen Intel STS finalists will present their work in front of four sets of judging committees during their all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. from March 6-11. After rigorous judging, 10 students will be awarded additional college scholarships totaling $500,000.

Zhang and her biology teacher, Richard Lee, are planning on meeting after school to practice giving Powerpoint and posterboard presentations of Zhang's research.

“It's a lot more work, but I think it's totally worth it,” said Zhang. “It's quite daunting, but really exciting.”

Both Zhang and Narendra worked full-time on their research projects during summers, and about eight to 10 hours a week during the school year.

Narendra found his mentors, Daniel Forger, a graduate student in applied math at New York University, and Dr. Charles Peskin, a principal investigator in biomathematics at NYU, through his aunt, who works at NYU medical center.

Using a programming language called Mathematica, Narendra constructed a bio-mathematical model for Gaucher disease, a rare inherited disorder of fat metabolism caused by an enzyme deficiency.

Patients with Gaucher disease must receive enzyme replacement therapy once every two weeks to help them to digest a certain kind of lipid. Narendra's model sought to track the concentration of the lipid-digesting enzyme through time in order to optimize enzyme therapy.

“The model is used to study which dosage is optimal,” explained Narendra. “You don't want to saturate the system, because then you're just wasting enzyme and that costs a lot of money.”

In the future, Narendra thinks he may study applied math or biomedical engineering, while Zhang hopes to become a doctor, a Ph.D researcher, or an MD/Ph.D.

In addition to classwork and research, Narendra plays football, tennis and the saxophone in school. He likes to experiment with weaving saxophone into Indian classical music.

Zhang, whose father is an artist, likes to paint landscapes using oil paints on canvas. She has also recently taken up an interest in economics, her “newest hobby”.

Besides Zhang and Narendra, the city had three other Intel STS finalists this year. Two were from Stuyvesant High School and one was from Brooklyn Technical High School.

Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 155.