University Schools Student Earns Accolades For Chemotherapy Research

HUNTING VALLEY, OH - University School's Graham Lane's brain is designed for science. It's a brain that scored him an amazing honor. He is one of four Ohioans to be named a Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar.

Lane has been competing in science fairs and competitions since he was in seventh grade. After his first science fair, he decided to set his sights on a bigger prize, the Regeneron Science Talent Search. He began researching the competition.

Regeneron is the most prestigious science competition for high school seniors. The competition was previously known as the Intel Science Talent Search. Each year, the organization selects 300 students to be named to the list of nominees, according to Regeneron's website. The group examines a student's grades, their extra-curriculars, recommendations from teachers and mentors, and they look at the student's research project. This year there were 1,749 applicants hailing from 527 high schools in 46 states and seven American and international high schools overseas.

From a pool of 300, 40 scholars will be selected, Regeneron's website says. They will be taken to Washington, D.C., to display their work and discuss their projects. They will meet with scientists and compete with one another for awards, including the top prize of $250,000.

"On the [Regeneron] website there were videos of some of the winners, and I was truly blown away by the sophistication of the work as well as the maturity of how the students spoke about science," Lane says. "They were like super heroes to me. So, Science Talent Search has been a long term goal of mine."

When he was a freshman at University School he joined the Strnad Fellowship and Anderson Science Scholars program and began working with Sara Laux, director of Science Research at University. Laux says the two met for an hour and discussed Lane's goal of being named to Regeneron. Laux laid out what would be required of him.

Lane was eager to get started. Laux helped set him up with the Scientific Enrichment and Opportunity (SEO) Program offered by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Lane began work in the lab of George Dubyak, professor of physiology and biophysics at CWRU. He began researching the impact of chemotherapy on the immune system. His project is titled "Prostatic Acid Phosphatase is a Non-Selective Ectonucleotidase in RIP 1 deficient Human Jurkat T Cell Leukemia and EG7 Murine Thymoma Tumor Cells."

If that is a bit complicated, Lane summarized his project for humans with non-scientific brains. He wrote this after a prompt from Regeneron:

Some chemotherapies work by triggering an anti-tumor immune response which allows our bodies to recognize cancer cells and eliminate them. Chemotherapies trigger this response by inducing cell death, apoptosis, on tumor cells. During apoptosis, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) exits the cells through the Pannexin-1 channel to signal the immune response. Some tumor cells don't accumulate enough external ATP to signal the response. My research addresses why.

His initial research garnered him plenty of awards on the way to Regeneron. As a sophomore he took first place at the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair. Last April, he won the Ohio Junior Science & Humanities Symposium and joined 98 finalists from around the country at the National Junior Science & Humanities Symposium to compete for military-sponsored scholarships. This past fall Lane presented his research at the Ohio Academy of Science’s annual meeting and was named a Melvin Scholar. He will represent Ohio, along with two other U.S. students, at the National American Junior Academy of Science to be held in Boston in the spring.

All of which is to say, his project and research have been rewarded frequently leading to now. Of course, after three years of research, the big fish was still in the sea, and Lane was hoping his project would hook the beast.

And it did.

He joined two students from Hathaway Brown and one from Beachwood High School in being named Regenerson Science Talent Search Scholar nominees from the state of Ohio early this week.

"Being named a Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar is a sign that I am capable of being an excellent scientist and that I should continue my research as a career," Lane said. "I never thought that I would actually be named a scholar, but now that it has happened, I know that I am meant for scientific research."

University Schools hasn't produced a Regeneron School in some time, Laux said.

"For me, it’s amazing to see that he’s done it. I’ve never had to prod him to do it. He just did it on his own. He would come to me and say, “It’s time to work on this application,” Laux said. "It’s an incredibly proud moment to see the student follow-through."

Laux believes that other University Schools students will be inspired by Lane's accomplishments and will push themselves to match or exceed his achievements.

For Lane, he's hoping his research might lead to better outcomes for patients.

"I study this because I believe that in my lifetime cancer will no longer be a significant issue for society. I believe that the human immune system will be fully utilized in chemotherapy treatment, and that chemotherapies will be extremely effective," he said. "I want to be part of the effort that makes these discoveries and develops more efficient chemotherapies."

Photo from University Schools