Kennedy Student Places First at LI Science and Engineering Fair

Natalie Giovino, a senior at Kennedy High School, has received First Place in the category of medicine in the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair.  

Giovino will now move on to compete as a finalist in the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair being held this year in Phoenix, Arizona.

Giovino’s research took into account that a major obstacle in the fight against cancer is the development of resistance to current treatments. Her study investigated the mechanism of resistance to selumetinib, a drug used to treat uveal melanoma. Using uveal melanoma cells that were either sensitive or resistant to selumetinib, she identified proteins that mediate this resistance and studied the effect of treating melanoma cells with a combination of selumetinib and another drug, MK2206.

This drug combination increases the potency of either drug alone. A clinical trial investigating this combination therapy is planned based on the finding presented in Natalie’s study. It is quite an outstanding accomplishment to have a real life application based on a high school student’s discovery. We wish her great success while she travels to Phoenix in May to present her research along with more than 1,500 high school students from about 70 countries, regions, and territories competing for more than three million dollars in awards and scholarships.