By cryptoadmin 
February 18, 2025
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Highschool college students publish analysis on utilizing AI for techniques biology exploration
Two Connecticut highschool seniors, Meera Kannan and Gabrielle Bridgewater, have revealed their examine findings, titled "Leveraging public AI instruments to discover techniques biology assets in mathematical modeling," within the journal npj Programs Biology and Purposes.
They performed their analysis at UConn Faculty of Drugs within the Laboratory of Dr. Michael Blinov, Ph.D., as a part of their Well being Profession Alternative Applications expertise.
"npj Programs Biology and Purposes is without doubt one of the high journals in techniques biology," says their proud mentor and senior examine writer Blinov, affiliate professor of Genetics and Genome Sciences on the Heart for Cell Evaluation and Modeling at UConn Faculty of Drugs. "The applying of AI instruments in biology is a quickly evolving and thrilling discipline. It is a nice achievement for these highschool college students, and so they deserve it by means of their arduous work."
On Feb. 22, the 2 highschool college students might be presenting their scientific findings just about on the 62nd Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, hosted by the UConn Well being-based CT AHEC program in Farmington. Annually the long-running symposium gathers the state's gifted highschool college students excelling within the fields of science, know-how, engineering, and arithmetic.
"Thanks very a lot, Dr. Blinov, to your a few years of dedication to internet hosting our Well being Profession Alternative Applications Excessive Faculty college students in your analysis laboratory. The truth that these two highschool college students are co-first authors on a manuscript from analysis performed in your Lab and presenting their analysis on the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at UConn Well being is phenomenal," says Dr. Marja Hurley, UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and professor of drugs and orthopedic surgical procedure at UConn Faculty of Drugs. Hurley is founder and affiliate dean of the Well being Profession Alternative Applications at UConn Well being.
"I'm very excited to share our findings with a bigger group of individuals. I hope this can spur extra exploration of the intersection of AI with different fields of drugs," says Kannan.
"I’m extraordinarily excited to current our findings and share our arduous work with the bigger science neighborhood. I do know our analysis is already revealed and on the market for anybody who desires to learn it, however getting to discuss it nonetheless feels so particular," says Bridgewater.
Blinov really enjoys working with the eager-to-learn, devoted, and hardworking HCOP college students at UConn Faculty of Drugs.
"Through the years, my HCOP college students have performed a necessary function in lots of my initiatives. My experiences with highschool college students have been very constructive, and on this explicit case, these two college students have been lucky that their chosen examine matter led to a fast success story," Blinov says.
He finds it extremely rewarding to see the gratitude and success of his previous highschool HCOP program college students, lots of whom have gone on to have profitable well being care careers at locations akin to Yale, Cornell, and UConn.
"One in all my most notable success tales is my 2017 HCOP pupil, Nathan Schaumburger. He later joined UConn and returned to work with me in 2020, which led to a 2023 publication, with one other paper forthcoming. Nathan is now a graduate pupil at Harvard," Blinov proudly shares.
Lead co-author Meera Kannan, 18, is a senior at South Windsor Excessive Faculty. She hopes to turn into a doctor.
"It's very thrilling to be revealed. I used to be motivated to discover how AI might have a constructive affect and make techniques biology extra accessible for college kids like me. I hope to proceed working with Dr. Blinov and different professors at UConn sooner or later," says Kannan.
Kannan credit HCOP for opening her thoughts additional to each progressive medication and analysis.
"I first heard about HCOP throughout a tour of UConn in my sophomore yr. I used to be very excited by their mission in addition to in conducting analysis, so I made a decision to use. I feel this program helped reveal the creativity behind medication and taught me rather a lot in regards to the affect of scientific innovation," she says.
Kannan hopes to conduct extra analysis in a wide range of fields to broaden her horizons.
"I plan to pursue medication, and this expertise at UConn has been central in solidifying that dedication. The talents and views I've realized right here will certainly be invaluable as I discover the extra rigorous aspect of drugs," says Kannan.
Lead co-author Gabrielle Bridgewater, 17, is a senior at Tolland Excessive Faculty and in addition desires to be a health care provider.
"Being a broadcast writer and attending to conduct my very own examine is certainly probably the most thrilling factor I've ever accomplished and my proudest accomplishment to this point," Bridgewater exclaims. "It's truthfully additionally actually motivating as a result of it makes me so excited for what's subsequent, and it actually feels just like the sky is the restrict."
"We selected to check AI as a result of it's a discipline that's quickly increasing and related to youngsters our age. When our friends have questions, most of them look to AI to reply them, so we needed to see how helpful it might be for college kids who’re excited by studying extra about techniques biology (like ourselves). It's a comparatively area of interest discipline, which implies in numerous circumstances, AI could be probably the most accessible device to make use of in the event that they wish to educate themselves on the topic. We needed to know simply how dependable of a device it’s, and its potential for learning techniques biology," she says.
Bridgewater was impressed to enter the well being sciences and be a part of the HCOP program by her father, who’s a biochemist.
"Throughout my junior yr, he helped me search for summer time alternatives the place I might get fingers on well being care expertise and he discovered the HCOP program. I really loved each second of this system. I feel it was particularly distinctive as a result of not solely did I get analysis expertise, however I additionally acquired to be taught in regards to the school and medical faculty software processes, speak to present pre-med undergraduates, and enhance my public talking expertise. With out this system I’d by no means have had entry to this data and these alternatives," she says.
"My expertise with HCOP undoubtedly solidified my ardour for pursuing a profession as a doctor. It additionally sparked my curiosity in presumably happening the MD/Ph.D. route, which is a path I wasn't beforehand conscious of. I do know I wish to proceed conducting analysis, gaining publicity to the well being sciences, and exploring the intersection of AI and techniques biology," concludes Bridgewater.
Extra data: Meera Kannan et al, Leveraging public AI instruments to discover techniques biology assets in mathematical modeling, npj Programs Biology and Purposes (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41540-025-00496-z
Supplied by College of Connecticut Quotation: Highschool college students publish analysis on utilizing AI for techniques biology exploration (2025, February 18) retrieved 18 February 2025 from https://techxplore.com/information/2025-02-high-school-students-publish-ai.html This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
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