Below are members of the BUGS Jr Classes 2015 – 2023 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the BUGS Finale Symposium.

 

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2023 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the 2023 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Riya Agrawal ● ’24, Moorpark High School (CA)

    PI: James Boedicker | Mentor: Adam Krieger
    Aggregation and Surface Response of Wild Strains
    Poster PDF 

    Shibani Bansal ● ’26, West Ranch High School (CA)

    PI: Wendy Mack | Mentor: Naoko Kono
    Blood Inflammation Markers and Cognition in Post-Menopausal Women

    Manyaa Bhatia ● ’24, Rick Reedy High School (TX)

    PI: Ray Goldsworthy | Mentor: Sam O’Connell
    Implementation of Cochlear Implant Speech Processor in MATLAB
    Poster PDF 

    Sophia Bleau ● ’24, Palisades Charter High School (CA)

    PI: Paul Seidler | Mentor: Angela Albanese
    Quantifying Inhibition of Proteasomal Activity by Tau Fibrils
    Poster PDF 

    Anjani Bodar ● ’24, Yorba Linda High School (CA)

    PI: Valery Fokin | Mentor: Joshua Ibs
    Utilization of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Amphiphilic Dendrimers for Lipid Nanoparticle Vaccine Delivery
    Poster PDF 

    Arihant Boli ● ’24, Notre Dame Secondary School (Canada)

    PI: Hyungjin Eoh | Mentor: Juhyeon Lim
    Role of Internal Carbon Mobilization in Optimal Regrowth of Dormant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
    Poster PDF 

    Lyla Brugger ● ’27, Pacific Palisades High School (CA)

    PI: Gage Crump | Mentor: Ryan Roberts
    Generating Zebrafish Transgenics using Mouse Tendon Enhancers
    Poster PDF 

    Kaitlyn Byer ● ’25, Orange County School of the Arts (CA)

    PI: Michael Press | Mentors: Ivonne Villalobos, Simon Davenport, Morgan Weatherred
    Immunohistochemical and H&E Testing of Breast Tumor Biomarkers Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor to Evaluate Malignancy
    Poster PDF 

    Isabel Cantor ● ’25, Half Hallow Hills High School East (NY)

    PI: Scott Fraser | Mentor: Lynne Cherchia
    Developing STAT5A Fluorescent Protein Fusions to Investigate the Effects of Prolactin-mediated JAK-STAT Signaling on Pancreatic Beta Cell Proliferation
    Poster PDF 

    Cayden Chang ● ’24, La Cañada High School (CA)

    PI: Francesco Cutrale | Mentor: Jason Junge
    Enhancing Development of Image Analysis Tools with GPT-4
    Poster PDF 

    Emily Chang ● ’26, Woodbridge High School (CA)

    PI: Xianrui Cheng | Mentors: Ling Jin, Betty Liu
    Spatial Relationship Between Active RhoA and Microtubule Bundles in the Division Plane During Cytokinesis
    Poster PDF 

    Ethan Chang ● ’25, Troy High School (CA)

    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentor: Tenghuan Ge
    The Impact of GPR4 in Traumatic Brain Injury and Blood Brain Barrier Connection
    Poster PDF 

    Anson Chau ● ’24, Alhambra High School (CA)

    PI: Fabien Pinaud | Mentors: Liying Wu, Dai Zhai, Markeville Bautista, Hannah Hartman
    Examining SUN1 as a Protein Under Circumstances of Mechanical Stress
    Poster PDF 

    Sarah Chen ● ’25, University High School (CA)

    PI: Daryl Davies | Mentor: Nina Kirmiz
    The Effects of Dihydromyricetin on Bile Acid Levels in Mice Exposed to Chronic Ethanol Consumption
    Poster PDF 

    Cassidy Cheng ● ’24, Orange Lutheran High School (CA)

    PI: Le Trinh | Mentor: Francesco Cutrale
    3D Mapping of Zebrafish Heart Development
    Poster PDF 

    Hannah Chuabanlue ● ’24, Troy High School (CA)

    PI: Thomas Lozito | Mentor: Darian Gamble
    Cartilage Formation in Re-regenerated Lizard Tails
    Poster PDF 

    Kaley Chung ● ’23, Cypress High School (CA)

    PI: Ray Goldsworthy | Mentor: Sam O’Connell
    Generating Timbre for Multiple Instruments Through Auditory Nerve Models and Its Relevance to Cochlear Implants
    Poster PDF 

    William Corry ● ’24, Palos Verdes High School (CA)

    PI: Karrune Woan | Mentor: Hittu Matta
    CD38 Identifies a Subset of Natural Killer Cells with Differential Phenotype and Function
    Poster PDF 

    Sitka Crump ● ’27, John Marshall High School (CA)

    PI: Thomas Lozito | Mentor: Darian Gamble
    Effects of Osteoclast Depletion on Lizard Tail Regeneration
    Poster PDF 

    Hannah DeMerit ● ’25, Flintridge Preparatory School (CA)

    PI: Hussein Yassine | Mentor: Bilal Kerman
    Alteration of the Intracellular Trafficking in Alzheimer’s Disease by Apolipoprotein E
    Poster PDF 

    Christopher Deng ● ’24, San Marino High School (CA)

    PI: Kate White | Mentor: Janielle Cuala
    Using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging to Investigate Cellular Metabolism
    Poster PDF 

    Suhani Desai ● ’25, Yorba Linda High School (CA)

    PI: Jahan Dawlaty | Mentors: Anwesha Maitra, Anuj Pennathur
    Electric Fields Inside Micelles

    Anish Deshpande ● ’25, Redmond High School (WA)

    PI: Lindsey Schier | Mentor: Ahyun Jung
    Automatic Facial Feature Detection and Taste Reactivity Evaluation Using DeepLabCut
    Poster PDF 

    Reed Dietrick ● ’25, Westridge School for Girls (CA)

    PI: Alexandra Kovach | Mentor: Anne Louit
    Comparison of Novel Expanded Flow Cytometry Assay for Minimal/Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) in B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) with Gold Standard Assay
    Poster PDF 

    Alexander Do ● ’25, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)

    PI: Megan McCain | Mentor: Stephanie Do
    Photopatterning of Methacrylated Ligands for Spatial Control of SynNotch Receptors
    Poster PDF 

    Jonathan Dong ● ’24, La Salle College Preparatory (CA)

    PI: Weiming Yuan | Mentor: Lingxi Qiu
    Role of Nedd4 E3 Ligases in the Downregulation of CD1d and the Inhibition of NKT Cell Function
    Poster PDF 

    Tiancheng Dong ● ’24, Northwood High School (CA)

    PI: Beiyun Zhou | Mentor: Yixin Liu
    Alveloar Epithelial Type 2 Cells in 3-D Culture
    Poster PDF 

    Mira Emamaullee ● ’24, San Marino High School (CA)

    PI: Young-Kwon Hong | Mentor: Brandon Nakashima
    The Impact of vGPCR Expression in Lymphatic Vessels on Vessel Identity and Density
    Poster PDF 

    Michelle Fan ● ’24, Canyon Crest Academy (CA)

    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentor: Tenghuan Ge
    Advancing Drug Discovery for Neurodegenerative Diseases: A High-Throughput Screening Pipeline Targeting Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Patient-Derived Neurons
    Poster PDF 

    Ramisa Ferdawsi ● ’24, Van Nuys High School (CA)

    PI: David Tran | Mentors: Adam O’Dell, Dongjiang Chen, Son Le, Tianyi Liu, Nathan Thai
    Nuclear Envelope Disruption By Tumor Treating Fields to Trigger Immune Response in Glioblastoma
    Poster PDF 

    Allison Fong ● ’25, Temple City High School (CA)

    PI: Keigo Machida | Mentor: Simran Mehta
    Mitochondrion-Nucleus PDH1 Transfer Drives Epigenetic NANOG Reprogramming of Tumor-Initiating Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
    Poster PDF 

    Krish Gangal ● ’24, Irvington High School (CA)

    PI: Vinay Duddalwar | Mentor: Steven Cen
    Segment Anything Model on Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases
    Poster PDF 

    Reyansh Gangal ● ’26, Irvington High School (CA)

    PI: Zhipeng Lu | Mentor: Wilson Lee
    Computational Analysis of RNA-Mediated Host-Virus Interactions
    Poster PDF 

    Jiayue (Abby) Geng ● ’25, San Marino High School (CA)

    PI: Paul Seidler | Mentor: Angela Albanese
    Investigating Proteasome Activity Recovery by Tau Fibril Disaggregants
    Poster PDF 

    Dulce Hernandez ● ’24, Alliance Piera Barbaglia Shaheen Health Services Academy High School (CA)

    PI: Dong Song| Mentor: Huijing Xu
    Analysis of Place-Cell Activities in the Hippocampus
    Poster PDF 

    Hugo Herrero-MacKenzie ● ’25, UWC South East Asia (Singapore)

    PI: Clay Wang | Mentors: Jennifer Shyong, Shu Yi Lin
    A Heterologous Expression Platform in Aspergillus nidulans for the Elucidation of Cryptic Secondary Metabolism in a Human Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus
    Poster PDF 

    Matthew Heur ● ’26, La Cañada High School (CA)

    PI: Brian Lee | Mentor: Roberto Martin Del Campo Vera
    Spectral Analysis of Low Gamma Frequency Band During Arm Reaching Movement
    Poster PDF 

    Karina Hiranandani ● ’24, Yorba Linda High School (CA)

    PI: Daryl Davies | Mentor: Nina Kirmiz
    Dihydromyricetin (DHM) Increases Lipid Clearance and Mitochondrial Function in Mice Exposed to Long Term Ethanol Consumption
    Poster PDF 

    Kaitlyn Hong ● ’25, Westridge School (CA)

    PI: Jennifer Phan | Mentor: Kurt Hong
    The Utility of Cross-Sectional Imaging in Predicting Etiology of Abnormal Liver Tests in Early Post-Liver Transplant Patients
    Poster PDF 

    Mason Hong ● ’26, La Salle College Preparatory High School (CA)

    PI: Francesco Cutrale | Mentor: Le Trinh
    Spectral Autofluorescence: Towards Quantitative Pathology
    Poster PDF 

    Jeremy Hsieh ● ’25, Polytechnic School (CA)

    PI: Andrea Armani | Mentor: Kylie Trettner
    Advancing Tissue Culture Analysis: A Novel Machine Learning Algorithm for Cellular Viability
    Poster PDF 

    Gavin Huang ● ’25, Conestoga High School (PA)

    PI/Mentor: Andrea Belz
    Large Language Models (LLM) in STEM Education
    Poster PDF 

    Adrienne Jung ● ’26, Van Nuys Senior High School (CA)

    PI: David McKemy | Mentor: Chenyu Yang
    Identifying Cold Sensation Differentiation: Profiling Spinal Cord Neurons Based on Distribution and Excitatory/Inhibitory Neuronal Types using IHC
    Poster PDF 

    Carolyn Kang ● ’24, Taipei American School (Taiwan)

    PI: Clay Wang | Mentors: Jennifer Shyong, Shu-Yi Lin
    Generating a Natural Product Library by Genetically Manipulating mcrA in Marine Penicillium rubens to Discover Bioactive Compounds Against Alzheimer’s Disease
    Poster PDF 

    Mia Kang ● ’25, Palo Verde High School (NV)

    PI: Ranna Nash | Mentor: Melissa Lopez
    Utilizing Artificial Intelligence for Auto-contouring in Radiation Therapy and Oncology
    Poster PDF 

    Shaunak Kapur ● ’24, Seven Lakes High School (TX)

    PI: Serghei Mangul | Mentors: Yu Ning Huang
    Assessing the Completeness of Immunogenetics Databases across European Populations
    Poster PDF 

    Gio Kim ● ’24, Troy High School (CA)

    PI: Gage Crump | Mentor: Tuo Shi
    Cartilage-specific col2a1a Enhancer Drives Hair cell-specific atoh1a Reporter Expression in Zebrafish Cartilage
    Poster PDF 

    Tamar Koren ● ’27, Windward School (CA)

    PI: Arieh Warshel | Mentors: Mojgan Asadi, Matt Colopy
    Understanding the Mechanics of ITK Inhibition
    Poster PDF 

    Ain Evelyn Lee ● ’24, The Buckley School (CA)

    PI: Maral Mousavi | Mentor: Victor Ong
    Optimizing Geometry of Flexible Temperature Sensors
    Poster PDF 

    Claire Lee ● ’26, La Cañada High School (CA)

    PI: Young-Kwong Hong | Mentor: Sophia Zhao Investigating the Morphology of the Uterine Lymphatic Vasculature in Gestation
    Poster PDF 

    Johanna Lee ● ’24, Gretchen Whitney High School

    PI: Takeshi Saito | Mentor: Lucas Yoshida
    Host Response to Hepatitis Delta Virus Infection
    Poster PDF 

    Julianna Lee ● ’24, Nevada State High School (NV)

    PI: Adam Leventhal | Mentor: Alyssa Harlow
    Tracking Substance Use and Mental Health in Adolescents
    Poster PDF 

    Maxwell Lee ● ’24, Harvard-Westlake (CA)

    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentor: Tenghuan Ge
    Analysis of Transmembrane diffusion across the Blood-Brain-Barrier using a 3-D Organ Chip Model
    Poster PDF 

    Etan Lerner ● ’26, Shalhevet High School (CA)

    PI: Dion Dickman | Mentor: Joshua C Martinez
    Increasing Excitability of Motor Neurons at the Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction to Examine Function Plasticity
    Poster PDF 

    Eric Li ● ’24, Canyon Crest Academy (CA)

    PI: Liya Xu | Mentor: Jeremy Mason
    Comparison of Extracellular Vesicle Subpopulations Among Congenital and Adult Glaucoma via Aqueous Humor
    Poster PDF 

    Elvis Lin ● ’24, Diamond Bar High School (CA)

    PI: Arieh Warshel | Mentor: Mojgan Asadi, Matt Colopy
    Using Electrostatic Forces to See Which Drug is Most Efficient for Sars Cov-2
    Poster PDF 

    Roy Lin ● ’24, Diamond Bar High School (CA)

    PI: Arieh Warshel | Mentor: Mojgan Asadi, Matt Colopy
    The Binding Affinity of Bruton Tyrosine Kinase(BTK)
    Poster PDF 

    Kiane Lu ● ’24, Huntington Beach High School (CA)

    PI: Tyler Mason | Mentor: Jeremy Morales
    Effects of Long Covid on Patients’ Mental Health and Eating Disorders
    Poster PDF 

    Rayhan Mahamed ● ’25, Arcadia High School (CA)

    PI: Lindsey Schier | Mentor: Ahyun Jung
    Automatic Facial Feature Detection and Taste Reactivity Evaluation Using DeepLabCut
    Poster PDF 

    Rita Mei ● ’25, Diamond Bar High School (CA)

    PI: Dong Song | Mentor: Wenxuan Jiang
    Effect of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the Rat Hippocampus Shown in Delayed-Nonmatch- to-Sample Performance
    Poster PDF 

    Jason Mo ● ’24, Newark Academy (NJ)

    PI: Dong Song | Mentor: Wenxuan Jiang
    Assessing the Acute Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on Spatial Learning and Memory in Rats Performing the Barnes Maze Task
    Poster PDF 

    Noah Moon ● ’24, Granada Hills Charter High School (CA)

    PI: Brian Lee | Mentor: Roberto Martin Del Campo Vera
    Analysis of High Gamma Waves in the Hippocampus During Fixation and Go Phases
    Poster PDF 

    Michelle Nguyen ● ’25, Temple City High School (CA)

    PI: David Tran | Mentors: Adam O’Dell, Dongjiang Chen
    PTGER3 regulates Tumor Treating Fields Resistance in Glioblastoma Cells
    Poster PDF 

    Minh Nhat Nguyen ● ’24, West High School (CA)

    PI: David Tran | Mentor: Son Le
    Developing a Deep Neural Network Capable of Conducting Virtual Genes Manipulation Experiments ”
    Poster PDF 

    Isabella Nuñez ● ’24, California High School (CA)

    PI: Leanna Wise | Mentor: William Stohl
    Exploring Reproductive Health Experiences in SLE and RA/JIA: a Survey-based Study
    Poster PDF 

    Oliver O’Donnell ● ’27, Palisades Charter High School (CA)

    PI: Amy Merrill-Brugger | Mentor: Audrey Nickle
    Investigating Suture Fusion of Bent Bone Dysplasia Syndrome Through Mouse Models
    Poster PDF 

    Krish Patel  ● ’24, Brophy College Preparatory (AZ)

    PI: James Boedicker | Mentor: Adam Krieger
    Aggregation and Surface Response of Wild Strains
    Poster PDF 

    Yeou Chyng Julia Pei ● ’23, South Pasadena High School (CA)

    PI/Mentor: Jason Junge
    NADH-enzyme Fluorescent Lifetime Standards
    Poster PDF 

    Lena Peresztegi ● ’26, Palos Verdes High School (CA)

    PI: Janos Peti-Peterdi | Mentor: Audrey Izuhara
    Novel Regulation of Kidney Function by Gastrointestinal Hormones
    Poster PDF 

    Anna Peti-Peterdi ● ’24, Palos Verdes High School (CA)

    PI: Gina Gyarmati | Mentor: Audrey Izuhara
    The Role of CCN1 in Kidney-Brain Crosstalk
    Poster PDF 

    Brian Phan ● ’23, Troy High School (CA)

    PI: Michael Campbell | Mentor: Morgan de los Reyes
    DNA Sequencing of Various Populations for Genetic Variants on the MCM6 Gene that Could Cause Lactase Persistence
    Poster PDF 

    Neo Phuchane ● ’23, Reseda Charter High School (CA)

    PI: Leonardo Morsut | Mentor: Zoe Shappell
    Cloning Constitutive PCAD and Doxycycline-Inducible Mucin Plasmids to Investigate effects on Cell-Cell Adhesion in Morphogenesis
    Poster PDF 

    Henry Popolizio ● ’25, NewRoads School (CA)

    PI: Steve Kay | Mentors: Tia Tyrsett Kuo, Yuanzhong Pan
    Cancer Cell Proliferation in Relation to Clock Proteins
    Poster PDF 

    Ravi Prabhune ● ’24, Evergreeen Valley High School (CA)

    PI: Fabien Pinaud | Mentors: Liying Wu, Dai Zhai, Markeville Bautista, Hannah Hartman
    Purifying Emerin for Single Molecule Imaging
    Poster PDF 

    Prabodh Rao ● ’24, Gretchen Whitney High School (CA)

    PI: Surya Prakash | Mentor: Alexander Knieb
    Monofluoromethylation of Acyl Chlorides: Direct Synthesis of Monofluoromethylketones (MFMK) with Fluorobis(phenylsulfonyl)methane (FBSM)
    Poster PDF 

    Suhan Rapaka ● ’26, Wakeland High School

    PI: Amir Goldkorn | Mentor: Daniel Bsteh
    The Effects of ATM and AMPK Inhibitors on Bladder Cancer Cells Treated by Cisplatin
    Poster PDF 

    Athena Rem ● ’24, Malibu High School (CA)

    PI: Assal Habibi | Mentors: Ellen Herschel, Priscilla Perez, Alison Wood
    Binaural Beats in Improving Mood in Patients with Mild to Moderate Cognitive Impairment
    Poster PDF 

    Christopher Robertson ● ’24, Harvard Westlake School (CA)

    PI: Le Trinh | Mentor: Emily Shaw
    Assessing the Effectiveness of HaloTag for Imaging in Live Zebrafish Embryos
    Poster PDF 

    Maggie Ruan ● ’25, Oak Park High School (CA)

    PI: Peter Yingxiao Wang | Mentor: Jiaxin Katie Cui
    Heat Ultrasound-Triggered Display of Artificial Antigens on Tumor Cells for Increased T-Cell Attacking Efficacy and Accuracy
    Poster PDF 

    Saya Rutgers ● ’25, Palisades Charter High School (CA)

    PI: Don Arnold | Mentor: Emily Liman
    ATLAS- A Method For Anterograde Transsynaptic Tracing From Genetically Determined Neurons
    Poster PDF 

    Nicholas Scurry ● ’24, Crean Lutheran High School (CA)

    PI: Giorgia Quadrato | Mentor: Tuan Nguyen
    Culturing iPSC and Characterization of Human Brain Organoids by Immunohistochemistry
    Poster PDF 

    Sasha Sengelmann ● ’23, Gabrielino High School (CA)

    PI: Thomas Lozito | Mentor: Darian Gamble
    Validating Hedgehog-Responsive Chondrogenic Lizard Blastema Cells
    Poster PDF 

    Josephine Sibert ● ’24, Lees Summit High School (MO)

    PI: Rusty Lansford | Mentors: Jasmine Cinseros, David Huh
    Intravital Heart Imaging in Quail
    Poster PDF 

    Medha Singamsetty ● ’24, Monta Vista High School (CA)

    PI: Le Trinh | Mentor: Emily Shaw
    Testing Effectiveness of SnapTag System in Zebrafish Embryos
    Poster PDF 

    Diya Sreedhar ● ’25, Troy High School (CA)

    PI: Serghei Mangul | Mentors: Nitesh Sharma, Cecilia Liu
    Metagenomic Analysis and Development of Comprehensive Gene Sequences for Bacteria across Public Genomic Databases
    Poster PDF 

    Kaitlyn Sulivan-Pascual ● ’24, Flintridge Preparatory School (CA)

    PI: Adam Frank | Mentor: Ruibei Li
    Predicting Symptom Course in Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Data from Mobile and Wearable Technology
    Poster PDF 

    Beatrice Sun ● ’24, Glen A Wilson High School (CA)

    PI: Janos Peti-Peterdi | Mentor: Gina Gyarmati
    Angiogenic Effects of CCN1 in the Kidney

    Christina Sun ● ’24, Westridge School for Girls (CA)

    PI: Xiaowu Gai | Mentor: Alex Markowitz
    Understanding the Potential of AI in Clinical Testing: Opportunities and Considerations
    Poster PDF 

    Yin Grace Tang ● ’23, Gabrielino High School (CA)

    PI: Lindsey Schier | Mentor: Ahyun Jung
    Oral Digestion Contributions to the Hedonic Appeal of Sugar in Mice
    Poster PDF 

    Ronin Tsai ● ’26, La Canada High School (CA)

    PI: Brian Lee | Mentor: Roberto Martin Del Campo Vera
    Beta-Band Power vs. Frequency During Movement Fixation and Execution in the Human Hippocampus
    Poster PDF 

    Dewdunu Udagedara ● ’25, Long Beach Polytechnic High School (CA)

    PI: Lindsey Schier | Mentor: Ahyun Jung
    Linking Licking Data of Sugar Preferences in Mice to Fiber Photometry Calcium Imaging
    Poster PDF 

    Mia Valderrama ● ’24, Girls Academic Leadership Academy (CA)

    PI: Hussein Yassine | Mentors: Ashley Sanchez, Qiulan Ma
    Processing Human Samples from Living and Post-mortem Patients for Alzheimer’s Research
    Poster PDF 

    Ava Varu ● ’24, Girls Academic Leadership Academy (CA)

    PI: Bruna Martins-Klein | Mentor: Ziyuan Chen
    Anxiety Effects on Cognitive Control and Ability to Regulate Emotions
    Poster PDF 

    Vincent Villanueva ● ’24, Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math & Science School (CA)

    PI: Zhipeng Lu | Mentor: Kongpan Li
    Generation of Plasmid Vectors for Fluorescence Reporter Assay
    Poster PDF 

    Rehan Wani ● ’25, Valencia High School (CA)

    PI: Neda Jahanshad | Mentor: Kevin Low
    Exploring Correlations between Age of Onset and Parkinson’s Disease Progression using Linear Regression
    Poster PDF 

    Myles Warren ● ’24, Cate School (CA)

    PI: Moh El-Naggar | Mentor: Karla Abuyen
    Electrochemical Characterization of Bacteria from the Human Oral Microbiome
    Poster PDF 

    Brian Wong ● ’24, Arcadia High School (CA)

    PI: Steve Kay | Mentors: Yuanzhong Pan, Tia Kuo
    In vitro Model to Test Efficiency of Anti-cancer Drug Candidates and Their Synergistic Effects
    Poster PDF 

    Christopher Wong ● ’24, South Pasadena High School

    PI: Clay Wang | Mentors: Jennifer Shyong, Shu Yi Lin
    Genetically Modifying Penicillium rubens by Manipulating mcrA to Enhance Production of Secondary Metabolites for Anti-cancer Therapeutics Poster PDF 

    Jake Wong ● ’25, South Pasadena High School (CA)

    PI: Ray Goldsworthy | Mentor: Sam O’Connell
    Comparing Sound Localization and Voice Discrimination in Noise of Elderly Bimodal and Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users
    Poster PDF 

    Samuel Wong ● ’24, La Cañada High School (CA)

    PI: Tin Than | Mentor: Sanda Win
    Imaging Analysis of 3D Culture of Human Hepatoma Cells
    Poster PDF 

    Sean Wong ● ’24, La Cañada High School (CA)

    PI: Sanda Win | Mentor: Tin Than
    DNA Methylation of Sab Gene and its Correlation to the Progression of NASH
    Poster PDF 

    Mikayla Yamamoto ● ’24, San Francisco University High School (CA)

    PI: Rita Barakat | Mentor: Jason Zevin
    Exploring the Relationship between Language and Executive Functioning
    Poster PDF 

    Jerry Zhang ● ’27, South Pasadena High School (CA)

    PI: Gangning GL Liang | Mentor: Hongtao Li
    DNA Methylation of ONECUT2 in Prostate Cancer
    Poster PDF 

    Lisa Zhang ● ’25, South Pasadena High School (CA)

    PI: Peter Qin | Mentor: Difei Wu
    EPR Study of DNA Mini-Circle Topology
    Poster PDF 

    Natalie Zhou ● ’24, Diamond Bar High School (CA)

    PI: Paul Bogdan | Mentors: Xiongye Joshua Xiao
    Employing Genetic Similarities to Predict Characteristics of Microbes
    Poster PDF 

    Ryan Zhu ● ’24, Loyola High School (CA)

    PI: Chao Zhang | Mentor: Yida Li
    Development of Fluorogenic Styrene Probes for Cell Imaging
    Poster PDF 

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2022 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the
    2022 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Andrea Arreortua ● ’22, Palisades Charter High School (CA)
    PI: Fabien Pinaud | Mentors: Anthony Fernandez, Liying Wu
    The Coalition of Sun 1, Sun 2, and Oligo

    Vishnu Ayalasomayajula ● ’24, North Creek High School (WA)
    PI: Dominique Duncan | Mentors: Celine Alba
    Understanding Factors that Lead to the Development of Epileptogenesis by Analyzing Characteristics of its Biomarker: High-Frequency Oscillations

    Aidan Belofsky ● ’23, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (CA)
    PI: Kate White | Mentors: Aneesh Deshmukh
    Investigating Subcellular Organization of Beta Cells using Multiple Imaging Modalities

    Conor Camerer ● ’24, Flintridge Preparatory School (CA)
    PI: Kate White | Mentors: Janielle Cuala, Colleen O’Halloran
    Developing VR Interaction and Data Integration

    Ella Chang ● ’24, West Career & Technical Academy (NV)
    PI: Kimberly Gokoffski | Mentors: Vivian Wu
    RCGs and Me

    Evan Chang ● ’23, Troy High School (CA)
    PI: Dong Song | Mentors: Huijing Xu
    Mechanical Testing of Biodegradable Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Braces Used to Stiffen Flexible Penetrating Neural Probes

    Ellie Choi ● ’24, Flintridge Preparatory School (CA)
    PI: Young-Kwon Hong | Mentors: Joshua Choi
    Mapping the Human Meningeal Lymphatic System

    Anika Laurie Chung ● ’24, Gorman Learning Center (CA)
    PI: Young-Kwon Hong | Mentors: Joshua Choi
    Mapping Lymphatic Uterus

    Zachary Chung ● ’24, Arcadia High School (CA)
    PI: Leonardo Morsut |
    Mentors: Zoe Shappell, Thijs Makaske, Davide Carra, Christian Chung
    Development of Drug-Resistant Piggyback Vectors for Pluripotent Stem Cell Transfection

    Christopher Deng ● ’24, San Marino High School (CA)
    PI: Kate White | Mentors: Janielle Cuala, Tvisha Singh
    Utilizing Multimodal Microscopy to Study Beta Cell Heterogeneity

    Lindsey Dinh ● ’23, La Quinta High School (CA)
    PI: Thai Truong | Mentors: Anna Nadtochiy
    Measuring the Cellular Temperature of Zebrafish Brain with
    the Fluorescent Dye Rhodamine B

    Isabella Faccio ● ’23, Mater Dei High School (CA)
    PI: Dong Song | Mentors: Huijing Xu
    Mechanical Testing of Biodegradable Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Braces Used to Stiffen Flexible Penetrating Neural Probes

    Kian Ghasemi ● ’23, North Hollywood Highly Gifted Magnet (CA)
    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentors: Xinyan Liang
    Using the iPSC-Derived Microglia Model to Study Alzheimer’s Disease Associated PLCG2 Variant

    Phoenix Xinyou He ● ’23, Temple City High School (CA)
    PI: Brooke Hjelm | Mentors: Audrey Omidsalar, Shruti Kakan, Daniel Gerke
    Optimization of H&E Staining Procedures and Bioinformatics Quantification of Lymphocytes/Acini in a Mouse Model of Sjogren’s Syndrome

    Kai Herman ● ’23, Polytechnic School (CA)
    PI: Clay Wang | Mentors: Jennifer Shyong
    Characterizing Secondary Metabolites in Genetically Modified Fungi

    Anna Heur ● ’23, La Canada High School (CA)
    PI: Kimberly Gokoffski | Mentors: Phillip Lam
    A Model of Glaucoma Induced by Circumlimbal Suture in Rats

    Mason Hong ● ’26, La Salle College Preparatory High School (CA)
    PI: Francesco Cutrale | Mentors: Jason Junge
    Spectral Autofluorescence: Toward Quantitative Pathology

    Hengrui (Henry) Hu ● ’25, Fay School (CA)
    PI: Clay Wang | Mentor: Christian Rabot
    Comparative Genetics Reveals Secondary Metabolic Diversity in Aspergillus spp

    Riya Jadeja ● ’23, Flower Mound High School (TX)
    PI: Dominique Duncan |
    Mentors: Celine Alba, Alexis Bennet, Serena Ramde
    Detection of High Frequency Oscillations in Electroencephalographs to Identify Biomarkers for Epilepsy in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

    Zoe Judkins ● ’24, South Pasadena High School (CA)
    PI: Jennifer Cotter | Mentors: Monica Mendez
    Digitization of Teaching Slides

    Alexandra Kim ● ’24, Polytechnic School (CA)
    PI: Thai Truong | Mentors: Anna Nadtochiy
    Building a Deep Learning Neuron Detector From Uncertain Human Annotations

    Daniel Kim ● ’24, Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School (CA)
    PI: Camelia Danilov | Mentors: Steve Swenson
    Evaluation of Intranasal Delivery Route of MicroRNA-133b From the Nose to the Injured Spinal Cord in Mice

    Gio Kim ● ’24, Troy High School (CA)
    PI: Gage Crump | Mentors: Tuo Shi
    Investigating the Requirement of atoh1a Enhancers for Zebrafish Inner Ear Hair Cell Regeneration Using CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing

    Joseph Kim ● ’24, Granada Hills Charter High School
    PI: Uttam Sinha |
    Mentors: Benjamin Ziman, Dechen Lin, Chehyun Nam
    The Role of “Transcription Factor A” as a Metastatic Potential in Head and Neck Cancer

    Rachel Kim ● ’24, Portola High School (CA)
    PI: Young-Kwon Hong | Mentors: Luping Zhao
    Morphology and Distribution of Lymphatic Vessels in the Rodent Uterus

    Yalli Koren ● ’24, Windward School (CA)
    PI: Pinchas Cohen | Mentors: Hiroshi Kumagai
    MOTS-c Prevents Immobilization Induced Muscle Atrophy

    Ain Evelyn Lee ● ’24, The Buckley School (CA)
    PI: Gangning Liang |
    Mentors: Yvonne Tsai, Xinyi Zhou, Hongtao Li, Yohei Sekino
    SETD2 Aberrancy Enhanced the Synergetic Anti-tumor Effect of Combination Treatment of DNA Hypomethylating Agent and PARP Inhibitor in Aggressive Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

    Jaimie Lee ● ’23, Arcadia High School (CA)
    PI: Edward Leung | Mentors: Yi Xiao
    HITting the Spot in Interference Studies

    Rebecca Lee ● ’22, West Ranch High School (CA)
    PI: Lindsey Schier |
    Mentors: Sandrine Chometton, Ahyun Jung, Aracely Ramos
    Effects of Silencing Sweet-sensing TRPM5 Pathway on Expression Levels of Starch-digesting Enzymes in Mouse Saliva

    Jackie Li ● ’23, Temple City High School
    PI: Brooke Hjelm | Mentors: Audrey Omidsalar, Shruti Kakan, Daniel Gerke
    Optimization of H&E Staining Procedures and Bioinformatics Quantification of Lymphocytes/Acini in a Mouse Model of Sjogren’s Syndrome

    Jessie Li ● ’25, Tesoro High School (CA)
    PI: Young-Kwon Hong | Mentors: Luping Zhao
    Morphology of Lymphatics in the Rodent Eyelid

    Faith Ling ● ’23, Temple City High School (CA)
    PI: David McKemy | Mentors: Chenyu Yang, Brian Kim
    Expression Profile of CGRP in TRPM8+ Trigeminal Afferents Innervating Mouse Dura

    Mina Lipets ● ’23, New Mexico Military Institute (NM)
    PI: Vsevolod Katritch | Mentors: Antonina Nazarova
    NMUR1-Obesity Drug Target

    Rayhan Mahamed ● ’25, Arcadia High School (CA)
    PI: Lindsey Schier |
    Mentors: Sandrine Chometton, Ahyun Jung, Aracely Ramos
    The Role of the Digestive Enzyme Maltase-glucoamylase in the Hedonic Appeal of Maltose Taste in Sweet Subsensitive Mice

    Ria Mandal ● ’23, La Canada High School (CA)
    PI: James Boedicker | Mentors: Adam Krieger, Joshua Montion, Luke Peach
    Array Expansion and Contraction with CRISPR

    Simeon Mathew ● ’23, Oak Park High School (CA)
    PI: Ravi Bansal | Mentors: Siddhani Sawardekar
    The Effects of Concussion on Functional Brain Connectivity in High School Football Players

    Mihir Mehta ● ’23, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (CA)
    PI: Unmesh Jadhav | Mentors: Eric Sanchez, Sweta Sharma
    Role of Sox17 in Early Colorectal Cancer Progression

    Trisha Mehta ● ’24, Troy High School (CA)
    PI: Arnold Tsai | Mentors: Seth Politano
    Neuropsychiatric Complications from COVID 19

    Krish Pai ● ’25, Canyon Crest Academy (CA)
    PI: Dominique Duncan |
    Mentors: Celine Alba, Alexis Bennett, Serena Ramde
    Detecting High Frequency Oscillations by Electroencephalography as an Indicator of Biomarkers for Post Traumatic Epilepsy

    Suhan Rapaka ● ’26, Wakeland High School (TX)
    PI: Thai Truong | Mentors: Anna Nadtochiy
    Effects of Temperature on Zebrafish Brain Activity Patterns

    Japit Shelat ● ’23, Artesia High School (CA)
    PI: Hussein Yassine | Mentors: Yi Sun, Bilal Kerman
    The Effect of Cytosolic Phospholipases A2 (CPLA2) Inhibitor on the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) in APOE4 Mice

    Amogh Sukhthankar ● ’23, Monta Vista High School (CA)
    PI: Vsevolod Katritch | Mentors: Jordy Homing Lam
    Structure-based ligand discovery of Neuromedin U Receptor 2 with V-SYNTHES

    Grace Tang ● ’23, Gabrielino High School (CA)
    PI: Lindsey Schier |
    Mentors: Sandrine Chometton, Ahyun Jung, Aracely Ramos
    The Relative Contributions of Glucokinase to Sugar Taste in Mice

    Annabel Tiong ● ’23, Northwood High School (CA)
    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentors: Shangzhou Xia
    Microvascular Endophenotype in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

    Nathan Vipapan ● ’25, Maranatha High School (CA)
    PI: Clay Wang | Mentors: Shu-Yi Lin
    Purification and Identification of Novel Natural Products from Genetic Engineering Fungi

    Isabelle Whetsel ● ’23, South Pasadena High School (CA)
    PI: Jennifer Dien-Bard |
    Mentors: Samantha Gomez, John Fissel, Lucas Osborn, Pei Ying Alex Chen
    Development of Screening Test to Detect Cefazolin Inoculum Effect in Methicillin Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus

    Christopher Wong ● ’24, South Pasadena High School (CA)
    PI: Paul Seidler | Mentors: Nader Mostowfi
    Characterization of Novel Natural Products and Their Potential Action as Alzheimer’s Therapeutics

    Derek Wu ● ’23, Walnut High School (CA)
    PI: Fabien Pinaud | Mentors: Anthony Fernandez, Liying Wu
    Cloning of SNAP tag SUN2 Fusion Protein for Super Resolution Imaging of Nuclear Membrane Proteins

    Rohum Zaman ● ’24, Thornhill High School (Ontario, Canada)
    PI: Dominique Duncan | Mentors: Alexis Bennett, Celine Alba
    Analyzing Biomarkers of Epileptogenesis Through HFO Detection and Analysis

    Selena Zhang ● ’22, Arcadia High School (CA)
    PI: Brian Lee Mentor: Roberto Martin Del Campo Vera
    Neuromodulatory Analysis of Stereo-EEG Power During Reaching Arm Movement

    Sonia Zhang ● ’22, Arcadia High School (CA)
    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentor: Shangzhou Sandra Xia
    MaGeCKFlute Computational Analysis on CRISPR-screened Human Pericytes

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2021 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the
    2021 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Conor Camerer ● ’24, Flintridge Preparatory School
    PI: Kate White | Mentors: Janielle Cuala, Colleen O’Halloran
    The World in a Cell

    Camille Dang ● ’22, Gretchen Whitney High School
    PI: Raymond Goldsworthy |
    Mentors: Julianne Papadopoulos, Andres Camarena, Susan Bissmeyer
    Examining Various Aspects of Timbre Perception for Cochlear Implant Users

    Ashyah Hewage ● ’23, Geffen Academy
    PI: Scott Kanoski | Mentors: Léa Décarie-Spain, Alyssa Cortella
    TRAPing Food Responsive Neurons of the Hippocampus

    Hengrui (Henry) Hu ● ’25, Fay School
    PI: Clay Wang | Mentor: Christian Rabot
    Comparative Genomics Reveals Secondary Metabolic Diversity in Trichophyton spp

    William Huang ● ’23, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
    PI: Mark Humayun | Mentors: Pei-An Lo, Tiange Dong
    Construction of the CRISPR-Cas9 System for Genome Editing in Mammalian Cells

    Stephen Ma ● ’23, Temple City High School
    PI: Fabien Pinaud | Mentor: Yunke Zhao
    Nanoscale Modulation of Presynaptic Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels
    During Neurotransmission

    Neo Phuchane ● ’23, Reseda Charter High School
    PI: Leonardo Morsut | Mentor: Christian Chung
    Computational Manipulation of Multicellular Monodirectional Elongation Structures

    Takeru Saito ● ’22, La Cañada High School
    PI: James Ou | Mentor: Jiyoung Lee
    Constructing a SARS-Cov-2 Subgenomic Replicon

    Annabel Tiong ● ’23, Northwood High School
    PI: Takeshi Saito | Mentor: Yuji Ishida
    Characterizing HBV Viral Particles Propagated by 5 Different Host Methods

    Tyler Wang ● ’25, St. Paul’s School
    PI: Jennica Zaro | Mentors: Benazir Oluoch, Jiaqi Cheng
    Transformation, Purification, and Sequencing of Plasmid DNA Encoding Recombinant Proinsulin-Transferrin Fusion Protein

    William Wang ● ’22, Polytechnic School
    PI: Andrea Armani |
    Mentors: Raymond Yu, KylieTrettner, Jinghan He
    Stretchable Optical Diffraction Grating from Poly(acrylic acid)/
    Polyethylene Oxide Stereocomplex

    Isabelle Whetsel ● ’23, South Pasadena High School
    PI: Moh El Naggar | Mentors: Karla Abuyen, Josh Atkinson
    Comparison of Different Environments’ Natural Electrochemical Bacteria Populations

    Selena Zhang ● ’22, Arcadia High School
    PI: Alexandre Bonnin | Mentors: Weiye Dai, Quiying Zhao
    How Maternal Immune Activations During Pregnancy Affect Fetal Neurodevelopment

    Sonia Zhang ● ’22, Arcadia High School
    PI: Zhen Zhao | Mentors: Sandra Xia, Talia Ge, Xinyan Liang
    The Contribution of Traumatic Brain Injuries to Alzheimer’s Disease

    Ruiyang (Bobby) Zhu ● ’22, Diamond Bar High School
    PI: Dong Song | Mentor: Huijing Xu
    The Application of Novel Environments in the Study of Hippocampal Functions

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2019 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the
    2019 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Rose Abarbanel ● ‘20, Brentwood School
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens | Mentors: Mahta Barekatain & Zhongying Wang
    Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) within Pancreatic Cells and Islets

    Maya Beeri-Feldman ● ‘20, Palisades Charter High School
    PI: Prof. Lindsey Schier
    Glucosamine Disrupts Normal Taste-guided Licking For Fructose, But Not Glucose, in Mice

    Marianne Bishai ● ‘21, Viewpoint School
    PI: Prof. Peter Kuhn & Prof. James Hicks | Mentor: Lisa Welter
    Genetic and Morphometric Analysis of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Cell Line MCF 7

    Gwen Bradforth ● ‘20, Polytechnic School
    PI: Prof. Thai V. Truong | Mentors: Anna Nadtochiy & Peter Luu
    Neurobiology of Numerosity: First Steps

    Hayley Chang ● ‘21, Alhambra High School
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud | Mentors: Anthony Fernandez, Yunke Zhao, & Markville Bautista
    A Study of Focal Adhesion in Cav+/+ and Cav-/- Fibroblast Cells

    Alyssa Eamranond ● ‘20, Arcadia High School
    PI: Prof. Steve Kay | Mentor: Dr. Shi Yu
    Phosphorylation of Core Clock Proteins CCA1 and LHY Mostly Do Not Affect Their Subcellular Localization

    Samantha Escobar ● ‘20, Orthopaedic Hospital Medical Magnet High School
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud | Mentors: Anthony Fernandez, Yunke Zhao, & Markville Bautista

    Sana Hamid ● ‘23, Northwood High School
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud | Mentor: Anthony Fernandez, Yunke Zhao, & Markville Bautista

    Nyah Harrison ● ‘20, Brentwood School
    PI: Prof. Stacey Finley | Mentor: Qianhui (Jess) Wu
    Computational Model to Simulate the Enhancement of Basal Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase

    Amy Huang ● ‘21, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
    PI: Prof. Pinchas Cohen | Mentor: Dr. Su-Jeong Kim
    The Effect of Mitochondrial-derived Peptide MENTSH on Beige Fat Cell Induction

    Valerie Katritch ● ‘21, Orange County School of the Arts
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser  | Mentor: Mahta Barekatain, Zhongying Wang, & Peiyu Wang
    Metabolic Imaging of Zebrafish Pancreas on High Glucose Diet with FLIM

    Elisa Kim ● ‘20, Palisades Charter High School
    PI: Prof. Eun Ji Chung | Mentor: Noah Trac
    Dual-peptide Amphiphile Micelles towards Cancer Immunotherapy

    Hannah Kim ● ‘20, Archer School for Girls
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens | Mentor: Zhongying Wang & Jitin Singla
    Autoencoder Approach for Dimensionality Reduction-based Clustering of Subvolumes from Cryo-Electron Tomograms

    Kendall Kirio ● ‘20, West High School (Torrance)
    PI: Prof. Hongwei Dong | Mentor: Laura Korobkova
    Revealing neuronal morphology in mouse brain subiculum using computational modeling with two-photon microscopy data

    Rongxuan (Ryan) Li ● ‘19, Troy High School
    PI: Prof. Dong Song | Mentor: Sahar Elyahoodayan
    An Implantable Multi-channel Wireless Neuro-Stimulation and Recording System for use in Rats

    Ningrui (Renee) Liang ● ‘20, Northwood High School
    PI: Prof. Steve Kay | Mentor: Dr. Meng Qu & Alexander Vu

    Victoria Mora ● ‘20, Notre Dame Academy
    PI: Prof. Matthew Pratt | Mentor: Stuart Moon
    Development of a simplified 
    𝜶-synuclein expression protocol to apply in secondary education

    Anish Nagareddy ● ‘19, Skyline High School
    PI: Prof. John Tower
    Tracking Retinal Fluorescence of Drosophila Melanogaster coincident with Death

    Sarah Nakama ● ‘21, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Clay Wang | Mentor: Dr. Ming Shian Lee
    Secondary metabolite biosynthesis in P. variotii using the OSMAC approach

    Tobias Scott ● ‘20, Palisades Charter High School
    PI: Prof. Andrea Armani | Mentor: Rene Zeto
    Functionalization of Zinc Shell Nanoparticles

    Christina Wu ● ‘20, Walnut High School
    PI: Prof. Qi-Long Ying | Mentor:  Xi Chen
    Characterization of Chick Epiblast Stem Cells by Producing Chimeric Models

    Eileen Zhao ● ‘20, Troy High School
    PI: Prof. Julie Lang | Mentor: Dr. Pushpinder Bains
    Sanger validation of next-generation sequencing variants identified from circulating tumor cells and metastatic tissues in breast cancer

    Alexis Zukovski ● ‘19, Ivy Academia
    PI: Prof. Peter Kuhn & Prof. James Hicks | Mentor: Lisa Welter
    Genetic and Morphometric Analysis of SubClonal Diversity in Metastatic Breast Cancer Cell Line MDA MB 231

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2018 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the
    2018 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Idalis Amezcua • ’19, Warren High School
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens | Mentor: Kyle McClary

    Martand Bhagavatula • ’21, Fairmont Prep Academy
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser | Mentor: Dr. Cosimo Arnesano
    Metabolic Imaging of Tumor Heterogeneity by Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM)

    Kary Cabrera • ’20, Lennox Math, Sci & Tech Academy
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud

    Ellen Cao • ’19, Henry Gunn High School
    PI: Prof. Chao Zhang
    Cloning, Expression and Purification of Human ALDH1A3

    Kevin Chang • ’19, Northview High School
    PI: Prof. Clay Wang | Mentor: Michelle Grau
    Cocultivation of radiotrophic fungi with Candida albicans to discover new antifungals

    Suseong Cho • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser | Mentor: Dr. Jason Junge
    Conversion of GFP to BFP through Cas9 endonuclease fusion protein transfection

    Sarah Damico • ’20, Harvard Westlake
    PI: Prof. Andrea Armani | Mentor: Dr. Victoria Sun

    Claire Gantan • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser | Mentor: Dr. Daniel Holland
    Development of an OCT Instrument for Medical Diagnostics

    Paris Iniguez • ’19, Downey High School
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens | Mentor: Kyle McClary
    Pancreatic Beta Cell Proteomics

    Logan Liu • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser | Mentor: Dr. Jason Junge
    Conversion of GFP to BFP through Cas9 endonuclease fusion protein transfection

    Rebecca Lizarde • ’20, Saint Monica Academy
    PI: Prof. Jorge Nieva | Mentor: Dr. Jeremy Mason
    Correlating patient movement speed with future health events via off the shelf technology

    Victoria Mora • ’20, Notre Dame Academy
    PI: Prof. Matthew Pratt | Mentor: Ana Galesic
    Synthesis of Site-Specific O-GlcNAc Modified alpha-Synuclein

    Justin Nakama • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Terry Takahashi
    Analyzing Amino Acid Preferences of Antibody-Mimetic Fibronectin Using mRNA Display

    Thomas Nguyen • ’19, Troy High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser | Mentor: Dr. Jason Junge

    Wendy Rodriguez • ’19, Foshay Learning Center
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud

    Sophia Stevens • ’21, Archer School for Girls
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens | Mentor: Jeffrey Velasquez
    The Cloning, Expressing & Purifying of Green Fluorescent Protein from Aequorea Victoria

    Gracey Wyles • ’21, Archer School For Girls
    PI: Prof. Ray  Stevens | Mentor: Zhongying Wang
    Using CRISPR and Florescent Tagging to Label VAMP2 in the Pancreatic Beta Cell

    Kevin Xu • ’19, South Pasadena High School
    PI: Prof. James Hicks | Mentor: Lisa Welter
    Determination of Ploidy in Circulating Tumor Cells by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH) and Digital Image Processing

    Chelsey Yang • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Lin Chen  | Mentor: Dr. Yi Kou
    Photo Crosslinking Tethered Chromosome Conformation Capture

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2017

     

    Allie Abbott • ’20, Westview High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Jason Junge

    Bethany Cheng •‘18, South Pasadena High School
    PI/Mentor: Prof. Clay Wang

    Mario Cortes • ’18, South East High School
    PI/Mentor: Prof. Fabien Pinaud

    Yilei Dong • ’18, West Torrance High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Thai Truong

    Claire Gantan • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Dan Holland

    Sophie Kay • ’18, High Tech High
    PI: Prof. Peter Kuhn; Mentor: Sabrina Barbas

    Brian Li • ’18, Diamond Bar High School
    PI/Mentor: Prof. Dong Song

    Atticus Moats • ’18, J Marshall Fundamental Sec School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Andrey Andreev

    Justin Nakama • ’19, Crescenta Valley High
    PI/Mentor: Prof. Clay Wang

    Quan Nguyen • ’18, Troy High School
    PI: Prof. Peter Kuhn; Mentor: Thuy Truong

    Nicole Zhang • ’18, Arcadia High School
    PI/Mentor: Prof. Hongwei Dong

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2016 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the
    2016 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Bernard Chen • ‘17 Diamond Bar High School
    PI: Prof. Andrea Armani; Mentor: Alexa Hudnut
    A novel proprietary device utilizing magneto-optical technology to provide accurate, early-stage malaria diagnoses

    Bethany Chen •‘18, South Pasadena High School
    PI: Prof. Clay Wang; Mentor: Johannes van Dijk
    A Comparison of Secondary Metabolite Production Between Two Aspergillus nidulans Strains in Different Environments

    Xizhon Clare •’17, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Dr. Dan Holland
    Principal component analysis approach to unmix fluorescence data images

    Claire Gantan • ’19, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Dr. Dan Holland
    Confocal Line Detection in Light Sheet Microscopy

    Asma Karim • ’17, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Dr. Jason Junge

    Ashley Kim •’17, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Dr. Jason Junge
    Genome Editing of FMR1 in Zebrafish

    Ada Li • ’18, Westridge School
    PI: Prof. Clay Wang; Mentor: Michelle Grau

    Emily Baytalsky • ’18, Brentwood High School
    PI: Prof. Peter Kuhn; Mentor: Dr. Jeremy Mason
    Spatiotemporal Pathways of Metastatic Breast Cancer

    Hannah Huapaya • ’18, Alhambra High School
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud
    Our Experience in Nano Biophotonics and Molecular Cloning Research at USC

    Jason Mares • ’16, Foshay Learning Center
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud
    Our Experience in Nano Biophotonics and Molecular Cloning Research at USC

    Shaunak Shah •’17, Walnut High School
    PI: Prof. Valery Fokin
    Returning the Byproduct into the Polysulfate Synthesis Reaction

    Emie Tremblay • ’17, Hollywood Senior High
    PI: Prof. Fabien Pinaud
    Our Experience in Nano Biophotonics and Molecular Cloning Research at USC

    Gregory Valtierra IV • ’17, Brentwood High School
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens; Mentor: Dr. Martin Audet
    Probing Prostanoid Receptor Function

  • Below are members of the BUGS Jr Class 2015 and topics of their individual research projects as presented at the
    2015 BUGS Finale Symposium.

     

    Alyssa Kim • ’16, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Jason Junge
    Immunostaining Mouse Cartilage

    Ashley Kim • ’17, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Jason Junge
    Genome editing of fmr1 in Zebrafish

    Kyu Eun (Christine) Kim • ’16, Crescenta Valley High School
    PI: Prof. Scott Fraser; Mentor: Jason Junge
    Genome Editing nAChR-a6 in Zebrafish

    Lona Tehrani • ’16, Brentwood School
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens; Mentor: Martin Audet
    Isolation and purification of the EP3 receptor

    Alexander Deary • ’17, Brentwood School
    PI: Prof. Ray Stevens, Mentor: Matt Eddy
    GPCR Biology

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