2020

2020 Alumni

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Shirin Adang

High School: BASIS Tucson North
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Brown
Research Project: Soft Matter Interactions with G-Protein Coupled Receptor Rhodopsin 

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Zachary Anderson

High School:Paradise Valley High School
City: Paradise Valley
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kaveh Laksari
Research Project: Developing a Digital Atlas of the Human Brainstem Cranial Nerves: A Diffusion- Based Approach

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Zarif Ahsan

High School: BASIS Chandler
City: Chandler
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Hutchinson
Research Project: Developing a Digital Atlas of the Human Brainstem Cranial Nerves: A Diffusion- Based Approach 

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Lauren Badinger

High School: Palo Verde Magnet High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Purdy
Research Project: The Role of Fatty Acid Elongase 5 (ELOVL5) in Human Cytomegalovirus(HCMV) Replication

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Avaneesh Bellampalli

High School: BASIS Ahwatukee
City: Ahwatukee
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Zhongguo Xiong
Research Project: Identifying Preliminary SARS-CoV-2 Epitopes by Analysis of Conservation FromSARS-CoV-1 

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Surajinder Bharaj

 High School: BASIS Ahwatukee
City: Ahwatukee
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bonnie LaFleur
Research Project: Visualizing Trends in SARS-CoV-2 Testing Data

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Megan Bime

High School: Catalina Foothills High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Duca
Research Project: Alterations in Small Intestinal Metabolomics Following Oligofructose Treatment in Obese Rats 

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Natalia Bojorquez

High School: Nogales High School
City: Nogales
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Pascale Charest
Research Project: Study of the correlation between TBL1XR1 and mTORC2 expression and activity in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer 

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Ivan Carrillo

High School: Nogales High School
City: Nogales
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Hutchinson
Research Project: Segmentation and Analysis of MRI Microscopy Data in the Bonnet Macaque Brain

 

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Alexa Chavez

High School: Rio Rico High School
City: Rio Rico 
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Euan McLeod
Research Project: Sensor noise comparison to improve low signal detection of fluorescing nanoparticles 

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Juan Pablo Dabdoub

High School: Nogales High School
City: Nogales
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Philipp Gutruf
Research Project: Improving ESTIRA’s Graphical User Interface: Making Additions to the ESTIRA GUI using Tkinter 

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Nicole Dennis-Talley

High School: BASIS Oro Valley
City: Oro Valley
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Vijay Gokhale
Research Project: Study of Small Molecules Targeting Superoxide Dismutase (SOD1) in Familial Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Using Chemical Bioactivity and Protein Databases

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Hiwot Endeshaw

High School: Arizona College Preparatory-Erie
City: Chandler
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Teske
Research Project: The Effect of Sleep Disruption on Dietary Constituents in Cafeteria diet-fed Rats 

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Elisabeth Fear

High School: Horizon Honors Charter
City: Ahwatukee
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Brown
Research Project: Effect of Hydration on Rhodopsin Activation 

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Saisrinidhi Ganta

High School: Hamilton High School
City: Chandler
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Hutchinson
Research Project: Identification of Alzheimer's Disease-related pathology using post-mortem MRI maps 

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Sean Garcia

High School: Nogales High School
City: Nogales
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tally Largent-Milnes
Research Project: Proteomic Analysis of sex-defined genome sequencing in Migraine 

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Aidan Gee

High School: Catalina Foothills High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniela Zarnescu
Research Project: Characterizing the Biochemical Properties of UG-Rich RNA in a Drosophila Model of ALS

 

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Prasiddhi Gyawali

High School: Sonoran Science Academy -Tucson
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ramona Walls
Research Project: An R-Shiny app for trait data processing 

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Rebecca Han

High School: Catalina Foothills High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dongkyun Kang
Research Project: Analyzing Full Width at Half Maximum of Light Profile Microscopy Images to Determine Resolution

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Grace Harrington

High School: Cactus Shadows High School
City: Cave Creek
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Pascale Charest
Research Project: Role of PHLDA1 and FOXC2 in mTORC2 Signaling in Clinical Invasive Breast Carcinoma Patients  

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Hailey Johnson

High School: Cienega High School
City: Vail
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bonnie LaFleur
Research Project: Gene Expression Analysis Shows Patterns Behind Immune Aging 

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Eshaan Joshi

High School: BASIS Tucson North
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tyson Swetnam
Research Project: Identifying Plants and Trees from Aerial Drone Data

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Naveen Kumar

High School: North Phoenix Preparatory Academy
City: Phoenix
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Zhongguo Xiong
Research Project: Exploration of Neutralizing Antibodies Against COVID-19 

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Eli Lefkowitz

High School: Catalina Foothills High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jared Churko
Research Project: Optimizing heart construct fabrication through quantitative signal analysis

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Sonia Mathur

High School: University High School (UHS)
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Leif Abrell
Research Project: What’s In Your Rainwater? Inorganic and Organic Contaminants Measured in Roof- Harvested Rainwater 

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Nikhil Mathur

High School: University High School (UHS)
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Pascale Charest
Research Project: ZDHHC11 and its correlation with mTORC2 controlled metastasis of Non-Small CellLung Cancer 

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Esha Mathur

High School: University High School (UHS)
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bonnie Hurwitz
Research Project: Exploring the diversity of prophages associated with the cyanobacteria Nostoc 

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Matthew Mayer

High School: Walden Grove High School
City: Sahuarita
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Melanie Culver
Research Project: Mesocarnivore Ecology in the Santa Rita Mountains 

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Viraj Mehta

High School: BASIS Scottsdale
City: Scottsdale
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yves Lussier
Research Project: Using Biocuration to Validate Novel Predicted Disease-Pathway Associations and ImproveStatistical Power for Dysregulated Pathway Analysis

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Nainika Menakuru

High School: Empire High School
City: Vail
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Vanderpool
Research Project: Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Right Ventricular Function: R Shiny App Development 

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Abbigayle Mills

High School: University High School (UHS)
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jin Zhou
Research Project: Genetic Association Analysis in the Development of Diabetes

 

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Margot Nicholson

High School: Catalina Foothills High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Marty
Research Project: Automating Data Visualization Processes for UniDec 

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Christina Niyigena

High School: Sahuaro High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Marty
Research Project: Automating a User-Friendly Interface for Faster Deconvolution of large MS Data Sets

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Sreevatsa Nukala

 High School: BASIS Chandler
City: Chandler
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ali Akoglu
Research Project: Overcoming the Limitations Posed by TCR-beta Repertoire Modeling through In-Silico DNA Recombination Algorithm

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Elissa Ornelas

High School: Walden Grove High School
City: Sahuarita
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Worobey
Research Project: Impact of ‘Essential Services’ Maintained in Rural Communities on COVID-19 Disease Caseloads 

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Suraj Puvvadi

High School: BASIS Scottsdale
City: Scottsdale
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yves Lussier
Research Project: Validation of Predictions From a Novel Small-Sample Statistic of Valley Fever and Dysregulated Pathways and Increasing Statistical Power of Metabolite Identifiers Through Biocuration 

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Sienna Rhoda

High School: Palo Verde Magnet High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ted Trouard
Research Project: Understanding Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound in Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Models 

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Isabel Ross

High School: Cienega High School
City: Vail
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laura Meredith
Research Project: Green Infrastructure Impacts on Carbon Cycling: Evaluating Changes in Soil Microbial Composition and Function

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Kelly Rushford

High School: Walden Grove High School
City: Sahuarita
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laura Meredith & Dr. Malak Tfaily
Research Project: Volatile Organic Compounds: The Missing Link to the Metabolome 

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Mykaela Salvacion

High School: BASIS Oro Valley
City: Oro Valley
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kirsten Limesand
Research Project: Effects of Radiation Therapy on Calcium Signaling in the Salivary Gland

 

 

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Karen Sanchez Perez

High School: Walden Grove High School
City: Sahuarita
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Anne Wertheimer
Research Project: Exploring the Role of Cytokines as Biomarkers through the Establishment of their Standard Concentrations in Healthy Individuals 

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Kyra Singh

High School: BASIS Tucson North
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jil Tardiff
Research Project: Using a 4-State Model to Simulate Altered Calcium Binding Properties ofHCM-Associated cTnT Mutations 

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Yasmine Sleiman

High School: Gilbert Classical Academy
City: Gilbert
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gondy Leroy
Research Project: Large-Scale Data Analysis of Diagnostic Expression in Children with Autism SpectrumDisorder (ASD) from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) 

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Jacob Song

High School: BASIS Tucson North
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bonnie LaFleur
Research Project: Analyzing Cytokine Levels with Reproducible Statistical Methods 

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Shreya Sreekantham

High School: BASIS Chandler
City: Chandler
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ted Trouard
Research Project: Evaluation of Focused Ultrasound-Enhanced Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease 

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Alexis Sullivan

High School: Veritas Preparatory Academy
City: Phoenix
Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Schaibley
Research Project: Modeling 2D Material Structures 

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Douglas Swango

High School: BASIS Tucson North
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Pascale Charest
Research Project: Investigating the Role of NIPBL in the mTORC2 Signaling Pathway of Breast Cancer Cells

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Logan Taber

High School: Palo Verde Magnet High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Worobey
Research Project: Evaluating Essential Services in the Spread of COVID-19

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Ryan Walton

High School: Sabino High School
City: Tucson
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Barton
Research Project: Texture Analysis of Fluorescence Images for Classification and Prediction of Ovarian Cancer Risk