Roslyn High School seniors Jake Azrolan and Chelsea Kumar were named Semifinalists in the Long Island Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. “We’re extremely proud of both of them!” said Dr. Allyson Weseley, the students’ school Research Advisor.

On Sunday, February 7, 2021 they gave a virtual presentation to a panel of judges from York College. Jake’s project was entitled The Effect of High Glucose on Apol1-microRNA193a in Podocytes and its Relevance in High Glucose and Puromycin Aminonucleoside (PAN) Induced Apoptosis. Conducted in a nephrology lab at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which kidney cells (podocytes) are injured potentially leading to deadly chronic kidney disease. "As a JSHS competitor, I learned to develop my presenting skills and challenged myself to be the best I can be,” said Jake. “I also learned a breadth of new research knowledge in the biomedical division while listening to the other presentations in the symposium.” His project won third place in the Biological and Medical Sciences category.

Chelsea’s engineering project, The Development of a Unidirectional Vagus Nerve Stimulator, explored a potential alternative to medications for the widespread problems of irritable bowel disorders. Chelsea developed a prototype of a device that could be used to send messages via a major nerve that connects that brain and the digestive tract. Chelsea’s research was performed in a lab at NYIT.