Madhavi Gavini (Columbus, MS), Arjun Ramamurti (Lexington, MA), Sagar Indurkhya (Durham, NC) and Vijay Jain (New Hyde Park, NY) received $50K, $40K, $40K and $30K, respectively, as individual and team winners at the 2006-07 Siemens Math, Science and Technology Competition.

Madhavi Gavini (Columbus, MS) - 2nd Prize - Individual

Engineering a novel inhibitor of biofilm-encapsulated pathogens

Madhavi Gavini’s project combines microbiology and genome biology to address the potential use of extracts derived from plants to treat bacterial infections.  In her research, she screened a number of herbs and herbal products and found that some had inhibitory effects on microbial growth under laboratory conditions.  Ms. Gavini’s mentors were Prof. Lakshmi Pulakat, Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, and Dr. Mary Davidson, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Sciences. 

Ms. Gavini, a senior, has had many discussions on the medicinal properties of herbs with her grandmother and late grandfather who practiced traditional Indian medicine.  It was her grandfather who suggested that herbs might help in the treatment of infections.  Ms. Gavini has received a number of awards for her scientific work, including the 2006 INTEL Foundation Young Scientist Scholarship and Best of Category in the Medicine and Health at 2006 INEL ISEF.   She would like to become a biomedical researcher.  

Arjun Ramamurti (Lexington, MA) - 3rd Prize - Individual

Exploring the Guenon Mystery: An Evolutionary Analysis Using Phylogenetic Trees

In his biology project, Arjun Ramamurti combined multiple methodologies to help unravel the mystery of how guenon monkeys evolved.  His research could increase the likelihood that some day we will understand how species (including man) evolve over long periods of time as their genetic makeup and behavior adapt to changes in the environment.  Mr. Ramamurti conceived his project after reading an article in Discover Magazine that claimed the evolution of the guenon monkey was tremendously complex.  His research involved phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences for sixteen guenon species and positing a potential path of migration for the guenon out of Central Africa over the last one million years.  His mentor was Dr. Susan Offner, a biology teacher at Lexington High School. 

Arjun Ramamurti, a senior, is fluent in Tamil and Spanish.  He won Second Place in the 2005 Massachusetts State Science Fair and Honorable Mention at the same event in 2006.  A highly accomplished cellist who has studied privately at the New England Conservatory for nine years, Mr. Ramamurti has served as assistant principal cellist with the Massachusetts All-State Orchestra and principal cellist with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Repertory Orchestra.  He spent six weeks this past summer in Tambaram, India teaching English to 5-7 graders.   A member of the National Honor Society, he enjoys reading, baseball and basketball. 

Engineering Synthetic Oscillatory Gene Networks at the Population Level

Sagar Indurkhya and Nicholas Tang’s conducted their bioengineering research in the area of synthetic biology, an emerging interdisplinary field related to systems biology that uses concepts based on living systems to design biological networks much like electronic networks.  Their project explored methods, models and design patterns for the construction of complex artificial gene circuits at the theoretical level. Dr. Lingchong You and Dr. Jingdong Tian of the Duke Department of Biomedical Engineering served as their mentors. Earlier in November, the team presented their work at the 2006 Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) conference at MIT.

Fluent in Hindi, Mr. Indurkhya, a senior, is the co-president of his school’s Model UN team as well as president and founder of the computing club. He serves as a senior representative for the Student Government Association. Previously, Mr. Indurkhya received a 1st Place Airforce Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and 1st Place in Computer Science at the North Carolina Student Academy of Sciences. His personal hero is the noble-prize winning physicist Richard P. Feynman and he hopes one day to become a computer science professor.

Surface Molecular Imprinting of a Nanoscale Tansducer for the Rapid Detection of Bioterrorist Agents and Early Diagnosis of Cancer

In their bioengineering project, Jinju Yi and Vijay Jain created a biosensing mechanism that might one day aid in the detection of viruses, early signs of cancer, and bioterrorist agents.  Their research constructed an improved approach to the fabrication and use of potentiometric sensing for cancer-marker proteins and viral capsids.  Their mentors were Dr. Yantian Wang, Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Marylou O’Donnell, Rebecca Isseroff, Charles Duggan and Karim Gangji.

Vijay Jain, a senior, is fluent in Hindi and Spanish.  He is a recipient of the Herbert Hoover Young Engineers Presidential Libraries Award and was selected as one of two U.S. Representatives for the 39th Joint Schools Science Exhibition in Hong Kong, China.  Mr. Jain is treasurer of the student council, managing editor of his school newspaper and president of the Diversity Club.  He enjoys tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, piano and violin, and has performed with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra.  Potential majors include biophysics and applied mathematics. 

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