Long Island Finalists Do Not Advance In Regeneron Finals

LONG ISLAND, NY — Local students Yifang "Lucy" Zha of The Wheatley School and Justin Shen of Jericho Senior High School did not make the final 10 of the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search, but they did collect $25,000 apiece for their research, according to a news release.

The two students, who placed in the top 40, joined the ranks of other Science Talent Search alumni, many of whom have gone on to have world-changing careers in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics fields, contest officials said. Many Science Talent Search alumni have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, National Medal of Science and MacArthur Foundation Fellowships, officials said.

Zha and Shen took part in a virtual version of the competition this past week, showcasing their work to the public and undergoing a rigorous judging process while competing for more than $1.8 million in awards, ranging from $40,000 to $250,000, officials said.

They were selected to compete in the contest from a pool of about 1,760 entrants.

Regeneron awarded a total of about $3.1 million in prizes through the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2021, including $2,000 to each of the top scholars and their schools.

The top prize went to Yunseo Choi, of Exeter, New Hampshire, who played a theoretical matchmaker for people, matching couples with a number of factors by using mathematical algorithms. She took home the top prize of $250,000.

A second place prize of $175,000 went to Noah Getz of New York for his research where he adjusted the way computer models identify promising pharmaceutical compounds. A third place prize of $150,000 went to Eshani Jha of California for the development of a biochar filtration system for drinking water.

For her project, Zha studied the combined potential of the plant-based chemicals curcumin and capsaicin on the cells of neuroblastoma, which is the most common childhood cancer, as well as their effects on hypothalamic cells, the news release stated. She found that while the two chemicals inhibited tumor growth, hypothalamic toxicity must be further explored, according to the release.

For Shen's project he researched L-Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, reduced the toxicity of trichloroethylene, a common industrial pollutant that can be found in drinking water and a potential cause of Parkinson's Disease, the news release stated.