BUGS Jr Alumni

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  ➔

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