SBHS sophomore wins first place at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair at the North Jersey Regional Science fair for her work with mapping two genes mutated fruit flies.
By: Melissa Hayes
When Neha Deshpande, a South Brunswick High School sophomore, couldn’t find a teacher to work with for the Waksman Scholars Program two summers ago, she called the Waksman Institute herself and began volunteering in a research lab.
Last summer, she was able to intern and conduct research projects on fruit flies, and now, her hard work has paid off.
Neha’s project, Genetic Analysis of Meiotic Mutants in Drosophila, took first place at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair at the North Jersey Regional Science Fair held at Rutgers University in March.
The project took first in the zoology category, and she went on to become a finalist in the junior division.
"I just started because I wanted some experience, I wanted to do something over my summer," the 15-year-old said about why she worked at Waksman.
The Waksman Institute of Microbiology is a research facility at Rutgers University. It was named after former faculty member Selman Waksman, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1952, for research that lead to the discovery of the first antibiotic affective against tuberculosis.
Neha said she spent her first summer learning the techniques scientists at Waksman use, such as how to look at the flies under a microscope. When she was invited back as an intern in summer 2004, she was able to map two genes in mutated fruit flies.
The two genes that Neha discovered and mapped have proteins, which play an essential role in meiosis and may be used in the future to make medication for pregnant women over 35 to prevent birth disorders such as Down syndrome.
After winning first place in the zoology competition, Neha participated in a symposium where she had eight minutes to present her project. Neha was selected as one of two finalists who will fly to Phoenix in May to compete in the junior division International Science and Engineering Fair. Neha will be competing against 1,200 students from 54 countries.
Neha also was honored with the Outstanding Army Project of the Year and the Rutgers Presidential Award for Life Sciences for her research.
Neha said she has always had an interest in biology and hopes to pursue a career in that subject.
"I want to do something in genetics research or medical field," she said.

