Bronx SciFest encourages minority students

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Growing up around a grandfather with Alzheimer’s disease gave Laura Ramos, a junior at the IN-Tech Academy on Tibbett Avenue, a strong interest in diseases of the brain.

She brought her curiosity to bear on an ambitious project for this year’s Bronx SciFest at Lehman College, an annual competition that encourages students from minority backgrounds to pursue careers in the subjects educators refer to as the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math. Students showcased their work and judges gave out awards at Lehman’s Science Hall on April 24.

“I found this a very good way to learn more about neuroscience and make new friends,” Laura, 16, said of her project, in which she analyzed whether lesions on rat brains might cause symptoms akin to schizophrenia. 

She was one of 33 high school students, most of them from the Bronx, who teamed up with Lehman faculty members and students to explore topics ranging from chemicals produced by microwaving plastic to the effects of racism on self-esteem.

Laura partnered with Dr. Liesl Jones, the head of Lehman’s biological sciences department, and two master’s students. After the professor gave Laura a crash course in neuroscience basics earlier this year, the junior regularly met with her mentors every week. They helped her analyze slides of damaged rat brain tissue and use a computer program to measure the animals’ neural cells to see if they showed changes similar to what schizophrenia patients suffer.

“For a disease as complex as schizophrenia, understanding how to mimic the disease is important in determining drug therapies as well as possible methods for early detection,” Laura said.

During an awards ceremony full of hugs between organizers and SciFest participants, Dr. Jones remarked that she entered science for the same reason that Laura undertook her study. The professor’s father died of Alzheimer’s, while her mother had Parkinson’s disease.

“It compelled me to want to understand how the brain worked,” Dr. Jones said in an interview. “We both have the same beginning parts of the story.

Bronx SciFest, Laura Ramos, Lehman College, Liesl Jones, School Desk, Shant Shahrigian
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