Five students are the most from any high school in Westchester.  The students selected are Alexis Aberman, Alexandra Brocato, Stella Li, Jeremy Ma and Kylie Roslin.

Forty finalists will be invited to Washington, D.C. in March to participate in final judging, display their work to the public, meet with notable scientists and compete for the top award of $250,000.

Aberman investigated if a milestone exists when infants can make abstractions from unique object labels to generic categories. The results provided some evidence that infants have a better understanding of their own objects, suggesting that such a milestone may exist.

Brocatto's work centered on Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease that is the leading genetic cause of death in infants. Brocatto analyzed data from over 45 million Aetna insurance records to create a timeline and trajectory of the disease, which can be used to assist drug development and can allow doctors and researchers to intervene and prevent the next symptomatic fluctuation. 

Li analyzed the effect of a snake neurotoxin's ability to differentiate the workings of nerve impulses, specifically the endocytosis of vesicle membrane proteins. This enables neurologists to more fully understand synaptic mechanisms and could, in turn, enhance drug development.

Ma created a study to measure the brain activity of people while perceiving different representations of depth. He used EEG measurements and developed a novel method for analyzing the data.

Roslin identified a unique relationship between the Herpes Simplex Virus and a neurologic autoimmune disorder called NMDAR encephalitis. Her findings could be used to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this rare condition.

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