Local Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Semi-Finalist in Siemens Westinghouse Competition
Date: October 27, 2003
Iselin, N.J. - Bradley Witham, a senior at Mount Desert Island High School, has been selected among 20 high school students from New England as a semi-finalist in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology.
The only student from Maine, Witham's competition entry is a computer program that can aid researchers in identifying genes that may be associated with a disease or biological process that has been mapped to specific regions of the genome in the laboratory mouse - a process known as Positional Candidate Gene Analysis (PCA). Witham wrote the software for this program during his 10-week involvement in The Jackson Laboratory's Summer Student Program earlier this year.
Under the direction of Staff Scientist Carol Bult, Ph.D., Witham's project involved the development of a database of genetically mapped diseases, a computer program for identifying genes and their properties in regions of the mouse genome that have been shown to be associated with specific diseases, and the implementation of a web-based version of the data analysis system. The PCA web page allows users to select a chromosomal region for analysis, view results of all genes that are known to exist in this region, and identify any genes with polymorphisms (changes in form) on a web browser without the need for direct experimentation.
"The work that Brad has accomplished as an intern builds on the informatics resources that have been developed at Jackson Lab over the past decade and will serve as the basis of a web-based program that will be made accessible to researchers all over the world," explained Dr. Bult. "It has been particularly rewarding working with Brad because he loves a challenge and stays motivated even when nothing seems to happen the way it was planned. The project has become a true collaboration and Brad has made many meaningful contributions along the way."
Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Karen Hussein of Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is also a semi-finalist in this year's Competition. Hussein worked under Flow Cytometry Manager Ted Duffy to create a baseline for the comparison of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of mice of different strain, age, and sex through flow cytometry. The determination of this baseline is fundamental to future comparative studies.
National finals will be held in Washington from December 5 - 8, 2003, with the first prize a $100,000 scholarship.
For more information on The Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program, please visit: http://www.jax.org/education/ssp.html.
Contact(s): Jade Harmer, The Jackson Laboratory, 207-288 6051
Joyce Peterson, The Jackson Laboratory, 207-288 6058
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Email: news@jax.org
