California Students Chosen As Semifinalists for Prestigious Science Award: Complete List

The roster of 300 semifinalists has been announced in the Regeneron 2017 Science Talent Search. Formerly sponsored by Intel, it is one of the most prestigious science competitions for high school students in the country. More than 1,700 applicants submitted their projects this year.

Later this month, 40 finalists will be chosen for all-expense paid trips to Washington, D.C. to compete for $1.8 million in scholarships. The top prize is $250,000.

Former champions have gone on to win the Nobel Prize and the National Medal of Science.

This year’s semifinalists include 40 students from California. Here is a complete list of the seniors from our state who are in the running:

Cupertino

Monta Vista High School

• Cheerla, Nikhil, 17 - Scoring Regulatory Variants Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks and DeepLIFT
• Saluja, Sajeev, 17 - Simulation and Experimental Verification of Thioflavin-T mediated Reversal of Amyloid-like Aggregation
• Talapaneni, Suresh, 17 = A Versatile, Quantitative Means for Post-mortem Diagnosis of Tauopathies Using Supervised Machine Learning

Diamond Bar

Diamond Bar High School

• Chen, Benjamin, 17 - Asymmetric Bipartite Variants of the Erdős Distinct Distances Problem

Fremont

Mission San Jose High School

• Baral, Jessika, 17 - Machine Learning Tool for Detection of Small Cell Lung Cancer Stage Using Novel Nuclear Factor I/B Expression: Significantly Increase Patient Survival in Less than One Minute
• Zeng, Catherine Yingxuan, 17 - Investigation of H/D Exchange in Aromatic Compounds with a Heterogeneous-Based Electro-Activated Palladium Catalyst

Irvine

Northwood High School

• Li, Eric Siqi, 17 - The Effect of Structural Parameters on Htt Pathology

University High School

• Chattopadhyay, Aurnov, 18 - Sustainable Heavy Metal Remediation Through Novel Nanocellulose Coagulants Synthesized Directly from Raw Biomass

Woodbridge High School

• Chang, Annette, 17 - Elucidating a Relationship Between Ligand-Flap Interactions and Drug Potency in HIV-1 Protease with Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Las Flores

Tesoro High School

• Shah, Shalin Vipul, 17 - Lumos: Automated Smartphone-based Ophthalmic Screening for Glaucoma Using Computer Vision and Deep Learning Algorithms Through Low-cost and Non-mydriatic Retinal Fundus Imaging

North Hollywood

Harvard-Westlake School

• Han, Eric, 17 - 4-Dimensional Dynamic Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance for Pediatric Patients with Congenital Heart Disease

Oakland

The College Preparatory School

• Pierson, Laura Catherine, 17 - Signatures of Stable Multiplicity Spaces in Restrictions of Representations of Symmetric Groups

Orinda

Miramonte High School

• Li, Sophia, 17 - Engineering Microdent Structures of Bone Implant Surfaces to Enhance Osteogenic Activity in Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Palo Alto

Henry M. Gunn High School

• Wang, Jenica, 16 - Bioinformatics Screening of Cell Surface Receptors to Identify New Stem Cell and Prostate Cancer Markers

Palo Alto High School

• Hong, Jerry, 17 - Novel Analyses of Volumetric Features of Drusen to Predict Progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

San Diego

Canyon Crest Academy

• Kang, Anthony Kyuwon, 17 - New Antibacterials: Conjugation-Mediated Transmission of Cytotoxic Genes for Targeted Bacterial Cell Elimination
• Merk, Liana Noor, 17 - Increasing Efficiency of Epi 1-(Nmp) Through Temporal Modification and Efflux Induction
• Xia, Brian Siyuan, 16 - Transgenerational Programming of Longevity with a Low-protein Diet: Animal Model, E(Z)/Ezh2-Mediated H3k27me3 and Early-Life “Immunization-Like” Epigenetic Interventions to Prevent Aging-related Diseases Throughout the Adult Life

Del Norte High School

• Tian, Jessica C., 17 - Antibacterial Property of Cellulose Paper Decorated with Ag/TiO2 Nanocomposites

San Diego Jewish Academy

• Acks, Eitan, 17 - Developing a Novel ALS Model Using in vivo CRISPR Cas9 Genome Engineering in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Scripps Ranch High School

• Kim, Janie, 18 - Development of a Low-Cost Hospital Room Disinfection System via SAW Nebulization

Westview School

• Han, Edward, 17 - Discovery of Novel IDO1 Inhibitors for Cancer Immunotherapy and Structural Biology Study of Inhibition Mechanism

San Jose

Bellarmine College Preparatory

• Chang, Kevin Yaolin, 17 - Ordered Ramsey Numbers of Small 1-Orderings
• Ravishanker, Pravin, 17 - ALZCan: Predicting Future Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease Using Polygenic Risk Scores, Cognitive Tests, Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers, and Multiple Neuroimaging Modalities (Resting-State fMRI, FDG-PET, Florbetapir PET)
• Sridhar, Arvind, 18 - Engineering Injectable and Conductive Hydrogels Doped with Graphene and Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles for Post-MI Cardiac Tissue Engineering and Robust Drug Discovery: A Computationally-Aided Investigation for Enhancing Therapeutic Efficacy

Evergreen Valley High School

• Selvamurugan, Shanmurugan, 17- Analyzing the Metallic Tendencies of Terrestrial Planet and Gas Giant Formation and Evolution

Lynbrook High School

• Guo, Nicholas, 17 Rational Hyperplane Arrangements and Counting Independent Sets of Symmetric Graphs
• Hase-Liu, Matthew Manchung Keisuke, 17 Efficient Point-Counting Algorithms for Superelliptic Curves
• Xiao, Katherine Lin-Kathy, 18 - Integrating Context-specific Epigenetic Information with GWAS Data to Identify Novel Variants Associated with Susceptibility to Basal Cell Carcinoma
• Zhang, Marilyn Mengyao, 18 - Immune Cell-derived Extracellular Vesicles in Culture Model of Inflammation Impose Malignant Phenotypes in Normal Breast Epithelial Cells

The Harker School

• Ang, Kai-Siang Matthew, 17 - A Complete Classification of Regular Symmetron Arrangements in the Construction of Icosahedral Virus Capsids
• Kim, Angela Eun-Chae, 17 - Radial Vector Scanning (RVS) Algorithm for Breast Cancer Segmentation
• Nirmel, Sandip, 17 - The Biological Pump in a Changing Climate: Identifying Drivers of Sinking Patterns of Various Antarctic Phytoplankton and Ice Algae
• Pyda, Srivatsav, 17 - Pathology Image Analysis Reveals Gender Subtypes Affecting Patient Survival in Gliomas
• Radiya-Dixit, Evani, 17 - Identification of Diagnostic Biomarkers and Therapeutic Cancer Targets Across Adenocarcinomas Using Genome-wide DNA Methylation Analyses
• Sankar, Venkat, 17 - Tumor-adjacent Tissue in Invasive Breast Cancer: Characterization of Prognostic Significance and Identification of Novel Biomarkers
• Shah, Manan Ajay, 17 - Deep Learning Assessment of Tumor Proliferation in Histopathological Images for Categorical and Molecular Breast Cancer Severity Diagnosis
• Song, Scott, 17 - Development of a Novel Microfluidic System to Study Neurodegenerative Disorders
• Subramaniam, Arjun, 17 - CadML: A New, Computational Approach to Optimizing Antibody Affinity for Design of Antibody Therapeutics

Santa Cruz

Pacific Collegiate School

• Cheleden, Spencer Michael, 17 - Design and Characterization of Silver-based Nanolaminate Astronomical Coatings

The finalists will be announced on Jan. 24. The competition in Washington, D.C. will be held March 9-15.

Congratulations to the semifinalists!