2023

 

 

Ariana Luo is a rising senior at Dulles High School in Sugar Land, Texas, with interests in biology research, experimenting with oil paint, and all things Liszt. Ariana’s project focuses on the engineering of point-of-care test strips for diagnosing lupus nephritis and inflammatory bowel disease. 

  

 

 

 

Chris Jang is a rising senior at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, with interests in immunology and molecular biology. Chris’ project focuses on identifying novel biomarkers for neuropsychiatric lupus, using a novel platform based on proximity ligation assay. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hubert Lu is a rising senior at Carnegie Vanguard High School in Houston, Texas, with interests in improving diagnostics and biomarkers for diseases such as cancer and lupusHubert’s project will compare and contrast novel biomarkers for stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer, discovered using a comprehensive aptamer-based screen. 

 

 

 

Pia Saha is a rising senior at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, Texas, with interests in computational biology, musical composition and performance, rock climbing, and volunteering, especially to help the elderly.Pia’s project will focus on image analysis of 35-plex imaging mass cytometry images of lupus nephritis kidneys in order to identify novel kidney-expressed biomarkers. 

 

 

 

 

Richard Wang is a rising senior at Clear Lake High School in Houston, Texas, with interests in biomedical engineering. Richard’s project will focus on examining the potential role of various ECM proteins and RNA molecules in renal disease, using spatial transcriptomic datasets. 

 

 

 

 

Sanjay Krishna is a rising senior at Seven Lakes High School in Katy Texas, with interests in medicine and public health advocacy, Indian classical music, and learning new things about human biology. Sanjay’s project will focus on identifying circulating autoantibodies that are associated with renal pathology activity or chronicity in lupus nephritis. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sohan Kureti is a rising senior at Harmony School of Advancement High School in Houston, Texas, with interests in the Fabrication of bioartificial spleens for immunological studies and therapeutic applications. Sohan’s project will focus on identifying excreted proteins that are associated with renal pathology activity or chronicity in lupus nephritis. 

 

 

 

 

 

Vedant Sharma is a rising senior at Awty High School in Houston (Texas), with interests in cancer biology (with a focus on immunology) alongside an interest in the application of protein biomarkers. Vedant’s project will focus on examining the impact of mesenchymal stem cell secretome on cancer cells, and the impact of splenic ECM proteins on immune cells. 

 

 

 

 

Videet Mehta is a rising senior at Dulles High School Math and Science Academy in Sugar Land, Texas, with interests in bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and clinical decision-making. Videet’s project will apply the latest AI algorithms in order to better diagnose and classify lupus nephritis using images of renal tissue slides. 

 

 

 

Haley Romaine’s research focuses on pathogenic proteins in Lupus patient serum that induce endothelial-mensenchymal transition in podocytes; this research will contribute to ongoing studies that follow the progression of Lupus Nephritis in patients.

 

 

 

 

2018

Rahul Agarwal, The Village High School, Houston, TX
Research Project: Biomarkers for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Shobha Dasari, The Woodlands College Park High School, Woodlands, TX
Research Project: Inconsistencies in assessing Lupus Nephritis pathology; Novel Lupus biomarkers

Jennifer Li, Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Houston, TX
Research Project: Novel molecules expressed in nephritic kidneys

Shree Mohan, Dulles Math & Science Academy, TX
Research Project: Random Forest Classification analysis of biomarkers

2017

Rahul Agarwal, The Village High School, Houston, TX

Palak Diwanji

Sommer Luu

Shree Mohan, Dulles Math & Science Academy, TX

2015

Suchin Kundra
They worked on background research and analysis of NPSLE protein biomarkers.

Grace Jiang
She evaluated the storage conditions of ELISA reagents.

Kavita Selva
They researched sweat-based biomarker studies in the published literature.

2014

Arun Kane
They worked on pathogenesis and biomarkers of lupus nephritis.

Tiffany Kim
Their work was on the genetics of autoimmune disease.

Saineha Shetty
Their research forcused on validating biomarkers of SLE.