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Summary

    As a young scientist fascinated with the potential of biological engineering, I enjoy coming up with new ideas, sketching out prototypes, and developing meaningful contributions.  At 13, I was awarded U.S. Patent #7,224,252 on my invention providing for magnetic levitation of a platform with three-dimensional rotational control.  Recently, I have applied my interest in the field of biology in a number of endeavors.

    As a participant in the USA Biology Olympiad, I have achieved Semifinalist ranking in the past two years.  In addition to pursuing independent study in advanced biology texts, I have taken dual enrollment biology courses at Florida State College and through the Harvard Summer School.  In May 2010, I competed at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose, California.

    My interest in genetic transfer technologies has led me to research genetic modification and gene therapy.  In my reading, I became particularly interested in the problem of modifying the genome of a multicellular organism.  I designed a system for facilitating intercellular transfer of DNA throughout a multicellular system and applied for a patent on it.  As a step towards testing this system, I developed a custom media formulation for a cell line used to study intercellular transfer via biological vesicles known as exosomes.  I found that different combinations of growth factors resulted in diverse proliferation patterns in the HMC-1 human mast cell line.  I hope to earn recognition for my research and successfully develop my system for applications in gene therapy and genetic modification.