Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:
REGN) and
Society for Science (the Society) announced that Kaitlyn Wang, 17,
of San José, CA, won the
$75,000 top award in the
2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair
(Regeneron ISEF), the world’s largest global pre-college science
and engineering competition, for a project that explored planets
that orbit very close around their suns. Other top prizes went to
projects in the fields of computational biology, animal sciences
and neurobiology.
The top winners were honored during two award ceremonies, the
first of which took place on the evening of May 18 and featured
Special Award winners. The Grand Awards Ceremony was held on the
morning of May 19 and included the announcement of the top prize of
$75,000. In total, nearly U.S. $9 million was awarded to the
finalists, who were evaluated based on their projects’ creativity,
innovation and depth of scientific inquiry. The competition
featured over 1,600 young scientists representing 49 states and 64
countries across the world.
Kaitlyn Wang won first place and received the
$75,000 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award,
named in honor of the pioneering drug researcher and Regeneron
co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer, for finding an
efficient way to identify certain exoplanets that orbit very
closely around their stars. Previous techniques used to detect
these ultra-short-period planets required enormous computational
power but were not as effective at identifying these planets.
Kaitlyn surmounted that problem by creating a special algorithm
that runs on cheap hardware and results in much faster and
higher-precision findings. Using her research, she says she found
the smallest of these planets ever discovered.
Saathvik Kannan, 17, of
Columbia,
Missouri, received one of two Regeneron Young
Scientist Awards of $50,000 for using
biocomputational methods to understand the causes of heightened
infectivity in the disease mpox after it reemerged in 2022.
Saathvik’s approach, named Bioplex, uses a combination of machine
learning and three-dimensional comparative protein modeling to
decode structures like those that enable the mpox virus to
replicate. This allowed him to identify the mutations in the virus
that likely made it more infectious as well as other mutations that
could make it resistant to antibiotics. Saathvik believes
scientists will also be able to apply Bioplex to future outbreaks
of other viruses.
Teepakorn Keawumdee, 17;
Pannathorn Siri,
16; and, Poon
Trakultangmun, 18, of Bangkok,
Thailand, received the second Regeneron Young Scientist
Award of $50,000 for developing an innovative
incubation chamber that promotes the survival of the green lacewing
insect, a natural predator of the mealybug, a harmful pest. In
nature, the green lacewing has a low survival rate, but the team’s
new system increased the lacewing’s survival rate five-fold. In
field tests, their incubation system was an effective alternative
to insecticides and lowered the mealybug population density nearly
four-fold.
“Congratulations to the Regeneron International Science and
Engineering Fair 2023 winners,” said Maya Ajmera, President and
CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News. “I
am humbled by the creativity and determination demonstrated by
these exceptional students and proud of all they have accomplished
with their outstanding research abilities. Together, these students
from various academic disciplines and geographies are solving the
world’s most intractable problems."
Regeneron ISEF provides a global stage for the best and
brightest young scientists and engineers around the world. Through
this competition Regeneron and the Society support and invest in
the next generation of leading STEM innovators who are generating
ideas and acting as catalysts for the change needed to improve the
well-being of all people, society and the planet.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this year's Regeneron ISEF
finalists as they join our growing community of bold individuals
tackling the world’s most pressing challenges,” said George D.
Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder, President and Chief
Scientific Officer of Regeneron. “I applaud today’s finalists and
all the ISEF participants for their relentless pursuit of
groundbreaking ideas that ignite positive and sustainable change in
our world. I owe so much of my passion for science to the
experiences and mentors I had in high school, and I hope that today
is just the beginning of a lifelong commitment to STEM for many of
these students.”
Other top honors from the competition include:
Natasha Kulviwat, 16, of Jericho, New
York, received the Gordon E. Moore Award of
$50,000 for
Positive Outcomes for Future Generations for her search for
biomarkers to help prevent suicides. By analyzing de-identified
brain tissue from 20 people, Natasha measured levels of two
proteins, cytokine and claudin-5, and found that neuroinflammation
and claudin-5 were increased in the brains of suicide cases. Her
work suggests that high levels of the protein claudin-5 could serve
as pre-markers for suicide and that certain anti-inflammatory drugs
might decrease claudin-5 levels.
Yuyang Wang, 16, of Shanghai,
China, received the Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation
of $10,000 for his development of an
inchworm-style stick-climbing robot. This type of robot
conventionally has grabbers that allow it to climb over and under
obstructions like a caterpillar does, but he added skateboard-like
wheels, which allow it to perform better than existing
inchworm-style robots when the angle is less than 22°. The hybrid
wheel/grabber assembly is novel, and he believes his robot will
work well for tasks that are potentially dangerous to humans, such
as inspecting damaged high-voltage lines.
Rishabh Ranjan, 17, and
Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, 17, of
Louisville, Kentucky, received the H. Robert
Horvitz Prize for Fundamental Research of
$10,000 for
building a custom, automated system to detect gastrointestinal
cancer before serious symptoms appear. The team’s system combines
robotics and machine learning to analyze blood samples to identify
healthy patients, as well as those with pancreatic, colorectal or
hepatic cancers, in only three hours at an estimated cost of only
$300. Detecting these cancers before they metastasize could make
treatment much simpler and more effective.
Eugene Chen, 16, of Shanghai,
China, received the Peggy Scripps Award for Science
Communication of
$10,000 for his
inexpensive energy-saving device that recycles the condensation
produced by air conditioners to improve their energy efficiency.
His device directs the cooling fan’s airflow to spray the air
conditioner’s condensation at its own condenser, lowering its
temperature and thus reducing power consumption and improving its
energy efficiency. Eugene believes his easy-to-install device can
reduce the amount of electricity used by air conditioners by more
than 10%.
More information about the top winners and visual assets can be
found
at https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-isef-2023-media-kit/
Daniel Levin, 18, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
Alexander Plekhanov, 17, of Portland, Oregon; and
Kevin Zhu, 18, of Old Westbury, New York received
the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award, which
provides the finalists with an all-expenses-paid trip to attend the
Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar, which includes
attendance at the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden.
George Cheng, 17, of Cary, North Carolina, and
Yik Chun John Peng, 17, of Shanghai, China
received the EU Contest for Young Scientists
Award, which is presented to two projects that will
represent Regeneron ISEF at the EU Contest for Young Scientists to
be held in Brussels, Belgium, September 13-17, 2023.
Full list of all award-winning ISEF 2023 Finalists
Full list of Special Award ISEF 2023 Finalists
In addition to the Top Award winners, 450 finalists received
awards and prizes for their innovative research, including “First
Award” winners, who each received a $5,000 prize. The following
lists the First Award winners for each of the 21 categories, from
which the Top Awards were chosen:
Category and Sponsor |
Winner |
Location |
Animal Sciences, sponsored by Society for Science |
Teepakorn Keawumdee |
Bangkok, Thailand |
Pannathorn Siri |
Poon Trakultangmun |
Behavioral and Social Sciences, sponsored by Society for
Science |
Emma Colarte Delgado |
Southwest Ranches, FL |
Biochemistry, sponsored by Regeneron |
Harrison Hao-Tian Tang |
Shanghai, China |
Biomedical and Health Sciences, sponsored by Regeneron |
Natasha Kulviwat |
Jericho, NY |
George Cheng |
Cary, NC |
Biomedical Engineering, sponsored by Society for Science |
Rishabh Ranjan |
Louisville, KY |
Gopalaniruddh Tadinada |
Muhammad El-Sherbiny |
Fort Lee, NJ |
Cellular and Molecular Biology, sponsored by Regeneron |
Sarah Jennings |
Ossining, NY |
Chemistry, sponsored by Beal Bank |
Ekin Asyali |
Gaziantep, Turkey |
Sude Gulsen |
Faisal Almuhaysh |
Hofuf, Saudi Arabia |
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, sponsored by
Regeneron |
Saathvik Kannan |
Columbia, MO |
Kevin Zhu |
Old Westbury, NY |
Earth and Environmental Sciences, sponsored by National Geographic
Society |
Franziska Borneff |
Roanoke, VA |
Paige Hinkle |
Sinking Spring, PA |
Embedded Systems, sponsored by Microsoft |
Yik Chun John Peng |
Shanghai, China |
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design, sponsored by Siemens
Energy |
Eugene Chen |
Shanghai, China |
Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics, sponsored by Howmet
Aerospace Foundation |
Yuyang Wang |
Shanghai, China |
Ethan Zentner |
Glendale, WI |
Environmental Engineering, sponsored by Jacobs |
Mohammed Alarfaj |
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia |
Aryan Mago |
Shrewsbury, MA |
Materials Science, sponsored by Howmet Aerospace Foundation |
Calvin Mathew |
Davie, FL |
Mathematics, sponsored by Akamai Foundation |
Meryl Zhang |
Plano, TX |
Microbiology, sponsored by Robert I. Schattner Foundation |
Shriya Bhat |
Richardson, TX |
Daniel Levin |
Pittsburgh, PA |
Physics and Astronomy, sponsored by Richard F. Caris Charitable
Trust II |
Alexander Plekhanov |
Portland, OR |
Kaitlyn Wang |
San José, CA |
Plant Sciences, sponsored by Society for Science |
Dongtian Liu |
Shanghai, China |
Robotics and Intelligent Machines, sponsored by Regeneron |
Timucin Erbas |
Acton, MA |
Kai Turner |
Sydney, Australia |
Systems Software, sponsored by Microsoft |
Harshil Avlani |
Chandler, AZ |
Translational Medical Science, sponsored by Regeneron |
Aditi Avinash |
Castle Pines, CO |
Alanna Polyak |
Plano, TX |
View all the finalists’ research here.
About the Regeneron International Science and
Engineering FairThe Regeneron International Science and
Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF), a program of Society for Science
for over 70 years, is the world’s largest global science
competition for high school. Through a global network of local,
regional and national science fairs, millions of students are
encouraged to explore their passion for scientific inquiry. Each
spring, a group of these students is selected as finalists and
offered the opportunity to compete for approximately U.S. $9
million in awards and scholarships.
In 2019, Regeneron became the title sponsor of ISEF to help
reward and celebrate the best and brightest young minds globally
and encourage them to pursue careers in STEM as a way to positively
impact the world. Regeneron ISEF is supported by a community of
additional sponsors, including Akamai Foundation; Beal Bank; Gordon
and Betty Moore Foundation; Howmet Aerospace Foundation; Jacobs;
King Abdulaziz & his Companions Foundation for Giftedness &
Creativity; Lyda Hill Philanthropies; Microsoft; National
Geographic Society; Richard F. Caris Charitable Trust II; Rise, an
initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust; Robert I.
Schattner Foundation; Siemens Energy; Texas A&M Engineering;
Perot Museum; Cesco Linguistic Services; Insaco; Oracle Academy;
Southern Methodist University; The University of Texas at Dallas;
Army ROTC; ExxonMobil; and The Hoglund Foundation. ISEF alumni have
gone on to have world-changing careers in science and engineering
and earn some of the most esteemed honors, including the National
Medal of Science, MacArthur Foundation Fellows, National Academy of
Sciences and National Academy of Engineering Inductees. Many are
entrepreneurs across a wide range of industries. Learn more
at https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/.
About Society for Science Society for Science
is a champion for science, dedicated to promoting the understanding
and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human
advancement. Established in 1921, Society for Science is best known
for its award-winning journalism through Science
News and Science News Explores, its world-class science
research competitions for students, including the Regeneron Science
Talent Search, the Regeneron International Science and Engineering
Fair and the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge,
and its outreach and equity programming that seeks to ensure that
all students have an opportunity to pursue a career in STEM. A
501(c)(3) membership organization, Society for Science is committed
to inform, educate and inspire. Learn more
at www.societyforscience.org and follow us
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat
(Society4Science).
About Regeneron Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) is a
leading biotechnology company that invents life-transforming
medicines for people with serious diseases. Founded and led for 35
years by physician-scientists, our unique ability to repeatedly and
consistently translate science into medicine has led to nine
FDA-approved treatments and numerous product candidates in
development, almost all of which were homegrown in our
laboratories. Regeneron’s medicines and pipeline are designed to
help patients with eye diseases, allergic and inflammatory
diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, pain,
hematologic conditions, infectious diseases and rare diseases.
Regeneron believes that operating as a good corporate citizen is
crucial to delivering on our mission. We approach corporate
responsibility with three goals in mind: to improve the lives of
people with serious diseases, to foster a culture of
integrity and excellence and to build sustainable
communities. Regeneron is proud to be included on the Dow Jones
Sustainability World Index and the Civic 50 list of the most
“community-minded” companies in the United States. Throughout the
year, Regeneron empowers and supports employees to give back
through our volunteering, pro-bono and matching gift programs. Our
most significant philanthropic commitments are in the area of
science education, including the Regeneron Science Talent
Search and Regeneron International Science and Engineering
Fair.
For additional information about the company, please visit
www.regeneron.com or follow @Regeneron on Twitter.
Media ContactsJoseph Brown,
Regeneron386-283-1323, joseph.brown2@regeneron.com
Gayle Kansagor, Society for Science
703-489-1131, gkansagor@societyforscience.org
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