The Regeneron Science Talent Search is one of the most prestigious scientific research competitions in the United States. Beginning in 1942, the Regeneron STS aims to highlight the work of high-school age students who complete independent research in different scientific fields. Student’s whose research is deemed original and innovative are selected to be one of 300 semifinalists — a pool which is then narrowed to 40 finalists. This year, senior Gavriela Kalish-Schur was selected as one of the top 40 finalists in the competition, the first time in its nearly 70 year history that Masterman has produced a finalist.
Kalish-Schur began thinking about the project during her junior year of high school. Kalish-Schur, inspired by her experience as a Masterman student, wanted to complete research related to anxiety and mental health. “Anxiety and mental health are things we’re talking about more, but we really don’t know enough about, especially on a really scientific level,” Kalish-Schur explains. “I was interested in looking at how cellular mechanisms, specifically protein folding…is related to anxiety.”
Kalish-Schur, after determining an area of inquiry, began her research at the University of Pennsylvania, in a lab she had been with since sophomore year. Her research focused on how IRE1, a mechanism responsible for protein folding, was related to anxiety. The goal of her research was to determine possible biological causes of anxiety to help find more targeted treatments for anxiety in humans. After a twenty page paper and multiple rounds of judging from scientific experts from across the country, Kalish-Schur was announced as a finalist this past January.
Kalish-Schur’s success, however, is not simply a monumental win for Masterman—it draws attention to the increasing need for educational investment in the Philadelphia school district. Kalish-Schur’s finalist status marks the first time in over 30 years that a student from a Philadelphia public high school has been selected a finalist for Regeneron Science Talent Search—a shocking statistic. Kalish-Schur, who hopes her success can be used as an example to demonstrate the necessity of increased educational funding, underscores, “Empowering students who are interested in science to pursue independent research is something that is really important.” Kalish-Schur believes that scientific education is highly beneficial for students. “Science and learning how to do independent research is something that doesn't just teach you scientific topics— it's really like a way of thinking,” Kalish-Schur argues. “Asking questions and designing a way to answer that question and then going and conducting research…is a skill that can be translated to so many different things in your life, not just science.”
