Students Showcase Research Project at Annual Syposium

Sonja XieOn Monday, April 13th Scarsdale High School Juniors who are enrolled in the three-year Science Research program hosted the Annual Science Research Symposium. During this event, Seniors showcased their independent, mentor-guided research projects, including slide presentations, scientific papers and award-winning work. The event serves as a platform for students to share their scientific contributions with the community, parents and Scarsdale High School faculty.

The symposium is the culmination of a three-year elective course, which starts in the sophomore year, focusing on in-depth, student-led research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, psychology or certain social-sciences. The event highlights the depths of research achieved by students enrolled in the program, choosing topics to study, learning to read scientific literature, identifying mentors actively working in their chosen fields, conducting independent and original research and competing in competitions.

This year two SHS seniors received awards at the Regeneron Westchester Science and Engineering Fair. Rachel Rakower received a second place award and Sonja Xie received a third place award.

The program is designed for students with a high level of ambition and independence and offers them an opportunity to engage in college-level research. SHS juniors are responsible for organizing the symposium and focus on three core areas.The publicity committee is responsible for promoting the event; the program committee reviews abstracts and develops the printed program; and the technology committee creates the slideshows and prepares the website for presentations. The website will launch on June 1st and will showcase the seniors’ completed research as well as the projects that sophomores and juniors enrolled in the class will research during the upcoming summer.

I am researching the impact that online payment forms have on college students' spending habits. Specifically, I am analyzing whether platforms such as Venmo, Zelle and Paypal are causing college students to make irresponsible payments. I am trying to determine whether these platforms are causing an increase in impulse purchases or whether these platforms are preventing college students from developing key financial skills that will impact them later in their lives.

Below are summaries of some of the senior presentations. If you are interested, you are encouraged to connect with the presenters or learn more when the website launches.

Sophie Lammer

Sonja Xie

Topic: Neurite Degeneration Following UK-5099 Inhibition of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier Reveals Metabolic Thresholds for Neuronal Integrity

Summary: Neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by the progressive loss of neurites—the essential communication projections of nerve cells—which is linked to impaired energy metabolism. To investigate this, primary cortical neurons were treated with UK-5099, a synthetic inhibitor of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC), revealing significant, dose-dependent structural loss. These results suggest that mitochondrial pyruvate transport is a key regulator of neuronal integrity and a potential target for neuroprotective therapies.

Julia Wu-Oswald

Julia Wu-Oswald

Topic: Lipids in Alzheimer's Disease

Summary: In Alzheimer's Disease, an abnormal accumulation of lipids strongly correlates with cognitive decline and the toxic build-up of amyloid-beta plaques. Previous in vitro studies showed that applying avasimibe inhibits the creation of cholesteryl esters within glial cell lipid droplets, which helps microglia (immune cells) more effectively clear away amyloid-beta. However, my in vitro study found that newly synthesized avasimibe derivatives were ineffective in increasing this uptake, failing to assist microglia in clearing the plaques and leaving the brain vulnerable to continued toxicity.

Sophie Lammer

Topic: Phenotyping of Cocultured Chronically Activated CD8+ and CD4+ T Cells In Vitro

Summary: CD8+ and CD4+ T cells are the immune system's most important defenders against cancer, but over time, their tumor-killing abilities become exhausted from prolonged activation. My in vitro experiment directly explored how this T-cell exhaustion is driven by harmful changes in the cells' lipid metabolism. By characterizing these metabolic and structural changes, my research elucidates exactly how these T cells fail to properly regulate the anti-tumor immune
response.

Peter Lin

Topic: Microbiology

Summary: The pathogen Fusobacterium nucleatum has been strongly linked with colon tumors, but the molecular mechanisms promoting this tumorigenesis remain unclear. This study investigates how F. nucleatum may promote tumor development by disrupting RNA interference (RNAi), an important regulatory pathway in gene expression. Results show that exposure to the pathogen prevents the formation of key RNAi complexes, suggesting a novel mechanism mediating host-pathogen interactions in cancer development.

Overall it was an amazing night to showcase our wonderful outgoing seniors' work.

Contirubted by By: Harrison E. Greebel SHS Class of 2027