Cold Spring Harbor Lab selects four local students

By Michael R. Ebert
michael.ebert@newsday.com

Four students from the Town of Huntington are among seven islandwide participating in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s "Partners for the Future" program, which allows them to conduct original biomedical research with a mentor. To participate, students were selected from 1,200 applicants islandwide.

"I’m studying the genome of a model plant called arabidopsis thaliana to see how particular genes can affect the mutations of the plant," said Kristen DePre, 17, a senior at Cold Spring Harbor High School, noting that findings could then apply to human biology.

"I’ll be training rats to respond to different odors, and then see if we can inhibit their choices to gain a better understanding of how the brain works," said Bobby Klein, 17, a senior at Cold Spring Harbor High School. "This is all research that’s never been done."

Other students participating are Madelein Jensen of Huntington High School, Katelyn Melgar of North Shore High School, Daniel Minkin of Portledge School in Locust Valley, Damian Moskal of Glen Cove High School, and Sweta Sanghavi of Floral Park High School.