Indian-origin teenager wins US science prize, gets $250,000

Indian-origin teenager wins US science prize, gets $250,000

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New York: An Indian-origin teenager has won the prestigious $250,000 US high schoolers’ science prize for developing a computer model of the structure of RNA molecules. This model can help in early diagnosis of diseases. Neil Moudgal, 17, was declared the winner of the Regeneron Science Talent Competition on Tuesday. Ambika Grover, 17, finished sixth with a prize money of $80,000 and Sidhu Pachipala, 18, finished ninth with a prize money of $50,000.

About 2,000 high school students competed in the Science Talent Search, of which 40 were selected for the final round. Moudgal’s computational biology and bioinformatics project could help develop treatments for cancer, autoimmune and other diseases more easily, according to the Society for Science, which runs the competition sponsored by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Grover developed an injectable microbubble to reduce blood clots and treat stroke victims by restoring blood flow to the brain. Pachipala used machine learning to assess a patient’s risk of suicide. Analyzing a patient’s journal entries can be correlated with a person’s psychological health and suicide risk. Pachipala, who was selected by the finalists as Most Exemplary, was also presented with the Seaborg Award.

Winners of the Science Talent Search program, originally sponsored by Westinghouse and now associated with current sponsor Regeneron, have won 11 Nobel Prizes and two Fields Medals for mathematics. George Yankopoulos, co-founder and president of New York State-headquartered Regeneron, was himself a 1976 Science Talent Search winner. That experience inspired her to work on finding cures for diseases and said: I can only hope that this year’s students will be similarly inspired to become the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators who will solve the world’s greatest challenges. develop solutions for

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