BUGS Jr Alumni

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

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

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