61st Annual STS (2001–2002)
Finalists
Ophelia Shalini Venturelli

MARYLAND
Ophelia Shalini Venturelli, 17, of Bethesda, entered the Intel Science Talent Search with a medical study of the world's leading cause of blindness, cataracts. Most commonly caused by lens deterioration with age, cataract formation is accelerated in women by lowered estrogen levels after menopause. Ophelia's research analyzed certain types of cataracts in male and female rats before and after their exposure to a transforming growth factor (TGF-BETA) and estradiol, and confirmed the protective role of estrogen in preventing cataract formation. She also reports that her research shows for the first time the significant increase of alpha-smooth muscle actin in TGF-BETA-induced rat lenses prior to morphological changes, and that estradiol inhibits this change. Ophelia hopes to study pre-medicine at Brown and is planning a career in medicine and biomedical research. At Walt Whitman High School, she is in the science and math clubs and on the track team. The daughter of Drs. Peter and Shalini Venturelli, she is an avid equestrian, speaks Italian and Hindi, and has studied violin since age 4. At 7, she began reading biology and ecology, and has a special fondness for 19th century English literature.