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Rising junior Shobhita Sundaram and rising senior William Yin were selected from among thousands of global entries as two of the 100 finalists from around the world.
The fair is a global online science and engineering competition open to individuals and teams ages 13-18. Sixteen students will be selected as finalists from among the regional finalists. They will travel to Google headquarters in California to compete for the grand award in late September.
This is the second year two Greenwich High School students have been selected as regional finalists. In 2015, Margaret Cirino and Olivia Hallisey were selected, and Olivia went on to win the grand prize for her project. Olivia developed a method for the quick, inexpensive and accurate detection of the Ebola virus that does not require refrigeration.
Sundaram's project, "Machine Learning Predication of Breast Cancer Cellular Response to Drug Therapies" uses machine learning algorithms to predict the efficacy of new cancer drugs "in silico." Her computer-prediction model allows for researchers to predict the value and use of new cancer treatment drugs before actual testing by comparing molecular properties of the drug itself with specific cancer cell-type markers and characteristics for an individual so treatment can be individually customized. Her program has already verified the usefulness of current chemotherapy drugs.
Yin's project, "Portable Low-Cost Tattoo-Based Biosensor for the NonInvasive Self-Diagnosis and Qualifications of Atherosclerosis" developed a low-cost, Band Aid-like self-diagnostic for the early detection of artherosclerosis. Using Yin's sensor, a person could self-diagnose the presence of arterial plaque associated with arthreosclerosis (the leading cause of death globally due to lack of early detection), in as little as 30 minutes, at a cost of just $5, simply by placing the patch sensor on one's neck, above the bifurcated carotid artery.
Sundaram and Yin are students in teacher Andrew Bramante’s science research course at Greenwich High School.
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