Herman Gudjonson

NEW YORK

Herman Gudjonson, 17, of East Setauket, entered the Intel Science Talent Search with a medicine and health project studying the role that mutation of a human gene plays in the severity of Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), a rare genetic disorder that has been related to defects in sensory structures called primary cilia and is characterized by obesity, inability to smell, retinal degeneration and other defects. For his research, Herman created a mutant fruit fly with an inability to taste by deleting the fly-equivalent of the human gene linked to BBS. Flies taste with their feet, and when a fly walks over sugar, it reflexively extends its proboscis. By observing proboscis extension reflex, Herman noted that flies that lack the gene cannot sense sugar, suggesting that the fly gene's human counterpart might play a similar role in BBS. At Ward Melville High School, Herman plays on the varsity tennis team. In 2006, he won singles and doubles titles at the International Friendship Games in Holland. He has studied violin with several world-renowned violinists and performed internationally. He also composes for the piano. The son of Gudjon Hermannsson and Yingxing Wang, he hopes to attend Princeton or MIT.