Great Success Awaits Nandini Sarma of Kansas!!

Nandini Sarma, a senior high school student at the Shawnee Mission East High School, Kansas has recently received several awards and wide recognition for her outstanding research work in biomedical sciences. Since her freshman year in high school, Nandini has been conducting research to find solutions to common health related problems such as food-borne illnesses, cancer and viral infections.

Her research on natural food preservatives revealed that garlic (Allium sativum) can effectively replace the harmful synthetic chemical preservatives from the food chain (meat and eggs), thus providing a health friendly, easily available and cost effective natural alternative to prevent food-borne illnesses caused by consumption of Salmonella and E. coli contaminated meat and eggs.

For cancer research, Nandini studied the effect of a selected virus infection on Herpesvirus induced tumor development in-vivo and its affinity to kill transformed cells in-vitro. Although, from the preliminary studies she came out with interesting findings and encouraging results, further work is in progress before coming to a final conclusion.

Recently, Nandini started working on pathobiology of Herpes simplex virus under the mentorship of Prof. G. S. Read, one of the world’s most renowned scientists in Herpes simplex Virus research. Using RNAi, real time RT-PCR and other molecular biology techniques, she found that certain eukaryotic cellular translation initiation factors are required for the virus to initiate infection and cause mRNA degradation, eventually leading to cellular death. Her research findings were presented at the 32nd International Herpesvirus Workshop and a research paper is being prepared for publishing in the “Journal of Virology”.

Her research on natural food preservatives, cancer and pathobiology of Herpes Simplex Virus infection brought her several awards and recognition from the scientific community at the national as well as international level. She is the recipient of the Greater Kansas City Science and Engineering Fair (GKCSEF) 1st place grand award consisting of plaques, trophies, cash and certificates for three years in a row for outstanding achievement in biomedical research and selected for all expense paid trips to present her research findings at the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF). At the Intel ISEF, Nandini’s research projects won several awards including 1st place grand award in microbiology, 4th grand award in medicine and health, 2nd special award from the AVASC foundation, 1st place award consisting of a plaque, certificate of achievement and cash from the US Air Force, and 1st place award consisting of a gold medallion, cash and certificate of achievement from the US Army. At the 2007 Intel ISEF, she was also selected for an all expense paid trip to participate in the London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) held in London from July 24 to August 8, 2007. All total, 250 selected high school students from 61 countries participated for this year’s International Youth Science Forum in London.

As a first place grand award winner at the 2007 Intel ISEF, Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology’s Lincoln laboratory near-earth asteroid research (LINEAR) program in collaboration with US Science Service and with the approval of the International Astronomical Association has named a star (a minor planet / asteroid) in our solar system after her name. The minor planet named “Nandinisarma” ( Number 23228, Name ref. 60503, Prov. Des. 2000 WQ57) was discovered on November 21, 2000 by MIT- LINEAR (Site: Socorro)..

In 2006 Intel ISEF, Nandini was selected for this award for her research on cancer. Recognizing her extraordinary contribution in science research, the Youth Science Foundation of Portugal invited Nandini to participate as a special student guest speaker at their 2007 international youth science forum. Nandini’s trip to Portugal was financed by the forum organizing committee and the Shawnee Mission school district in Kansas. In 2006, Nandini won the first prize (plaque and cash award) at the international science essay contest organized by the Society of Plastic Engineers and established another line of achievement as an Indian origin student.

Besides international recognition, Nandini also received several awards and honors nationally for her research endeavors in biomedical sciences. She is the first place award winner for three years in a row at the Kansas-Oklahoma-Nebraska - Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), and qualified as a national finalist to participate and make oral presentation of her research findings at the 43rd, 44th and 45th JSHS national contests. Nandini’s research projects also received Award of Distinction and Vic Regnier awards (Cash, trophies, plaques and outstanding research certificates) at the Research and Development forum of her school district for three consecutive years. In August 2006, Nandini was invited by the governor of Kansas to participate in the National Governor’s Association’s (NGA) annual meeting at Charleston, South Carolina and take part in the nation’s governors’ round table discussion on how to motivate students for science and technology. This program was broadcasted live by C-SPAN on August 6, 2006.

Yet, another remarkable achievement in the world of science is her publications. As of now, Nandini has 8 publications (2 full text research papers and 6 research abstracts). This is very rare for a high school student, and indeed distinctly reflects her deep interest in science and technology.

Science research is not the only passion for Nandini. She is equally involved in various other activities besides her school and laboratory. She is an avid debater and prolific writer. She is a distinguished member of the national forensic league, and has won several medals and other awards at the local and regional debate tournaments, literature and writing contests. She has won the Sons of the American Revolution’s (SAR) American history essay and oration contests at the state level competitions and got selected to represent Kansas at the national contest for two consecutive years. At the national competition, she won 3rd place award for American history essay contest and received medals, certificates and cash awards form SAR. Besides being a top ranking student in her high school class and a straight “A” student with an overall GPA 4.0 / 4.0, she is also a national merit semifinalist.

Nandini also loves music very much. She has been playing piano since she was six. In music also, she has received several awards including A+ ratings from the KCMTA, 3rd place award at the Baldwin International Piano Competition and got selected to play at the Truman Presidential Library piano concert in 2005. Besides Piano, Nandini also loves to dance. She has been learning to dance since she was 7 years old. Currently, she is learning Indian classical dance (Bharat Natyam). She also performs and choreographs various Indian folk dances including “Bihu dance” from Assam

It is interesting to note that, Nandini is a scientist, musician and dancer who loves to play sports as well. She has been playing tennis in her school’s tennis team since her sophomore year and played soccer in her school’s girls’ soccer team during her freshman and sophomore years. Her soccer team won the runners’ up trophy at the Midwestern all girls’ soccer tournament in 2005.

One of her biggest passions however, is community service. During her junior year, she created a volunteer organization, called “International Education Outreach Program (IEOP)” which works with other organizations in the field of education. Her first fundraiser event was a “Used Book Sale” that rose over $4,000 that went towards building schools, hiring teachers, etc. in Guatemala. Currently, she is the chairperson of her school’s AIDS awareness program (a community education project), board member of the American Red Cross - greater Kansas City chapter (measles initiative project), board member of the Midwest rural-urban girls collaborative (a national girls collaborative project), board member of the Kansas State University’s EXCITE senior advisory panel, member of the Johnson County library youth advisory committee, member of the National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society, peer tutor and committee chairperson of SME Student Council. For outstanding community service, she was awarded President’s student’s service award (Gold) during her junior year at SME high school.

Nandini is the daughter of Girish and Minakhi Sarma of Overland Park, Kansas.

Reported by Jugal Kalita, Colorado