Jericho High School senior Ashka Shah was named the lone finalist in Nassau County for the Regeneron Science Talent Search, one of the nation’s oldest science and math research competitions.
With her selection as one of the 40 finalists, which was announced Wednesday, Jan. 21, Shah will receive a minimum $25,000 prize.
Shah’s research titled “Selective Dual Inhibition of β-Catenin in Wnt-Driven Cancers via Gid8-Assisted Translocation and a Precision Peptide-Based Gene Therapy,” looks into cancer cell growth and how healthy cell growth can be mutated by cancer cells.
Shah said through her research, beginning in 10th grade, into the many different types of cancer, she became interested in the Wnt signaling pathway, a mechanism crucial for regulating cellular processes, but improper regulation can lead to cancer and other illnesses.
“A big issue in cancer therapy has been finding a way to selectively inhibit the cancerous version of this pathway without harming the normal version,” she said.
Shah said she does not know what she specifically she will study in college, but she said she knows that she wants to be a physician.
“I’m not sure where I’m going yet, but over the next eight years, you will 100% catch me in a lab,” she said.
Shah said her family was ecstatic to hear the news of her being named a finalist. Shah’s sister was also a Regeneron finalist back when Ashka was in the sixth grade.
Jericho High School had nearly a third of Nassau County’s semifinalists for the nationwide competition. The nine other semifinalists from Jericho were Aryana Adur, Anchita Agrawal, Vedant Balani, Franklin Lee, Kevin Liu, Cynthia Qian, Tommy Yuan, Justin Zhao and Liran Zhou. Their research spans medicine and health, cellular and molecular biology, computational biology, climate science, engineering and artificial intelligence.
The semifinalists said they all helped each other through the process and were proud of one another’s accomplishments.
“It is amazing how the Jericho Schools are performing in comparison to other schools in the United States,” Jericho Superintendent Robert Kravitz had previously said about the group of students.
“This is truly such an incredible program and place,” Alexis Vandergoot, Jericho High School’s science research coordinator, said while praising Shah and the other semifinalists from the school.
The semifinal class included 300 students, 33 of whom were from Nassau County.
The 40 finalists will head to Washington, D.C., for a weeklong competition in March. The finalists will display their work, meet scientists and government leaders. Awards are then given to the top 10 projects, with the top prize winning $250,000.
Long Island had six finalists last year.
