Isha Jain

PENNSYLVANIA

Isha Jain, 17, of Bethlehem, studied the mechanisms of bone growth in the caudal fin rays of zebrafish for her Intel Science Talent Search zoology project. Isha had expected the bone segments to grow at a constant rate. Her examination of cell proliferation during segment growth using a confocal microscope instead revealed that the number of dividing cells fluctuates, and segment growth appears to be the result of several pulses of cell division. Isha developed a mathematical representation of her results providing statistical significance and a model describing her data. She believes that her novel findings will further our understanding of human bone development. Isha is the co-author of five published scientific articles including a report of her zebrafish research in the Journal of Developmental Dynamics. She attends Freedom High School where she is a member of the ski club and the student council and on the student advisory board for her school district. Her many awards include a First Place Grand Award at the Intel ISEF 2007. Trained in classical Indian dance, she is the daughter of Himanshu and Sweety Jain. Her plans include attending Harvard or Yale and a career researching genetic disorders.