About Ambika Grover
Ambika engineered a targeted microbubble therapy for patients with ischemic strokes caused by blood clots. Her microscopic, injectable bubbles are coated with small proteins called peptides, which are attracted to blood clots, and contain iron oxide nanoparticles coated with an anti-coagulant and a clot buster, which break up the clot and keep new clots from forming.
Design of a Novel, Dual-Functioning, Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Factor XI Inhibiting Anticoagulant Therapeutic for Rapid Ischemic Stroke Treatment
View PosterAmbika Grover, 17, of Riverside, engineered a targeted therapy for patients of ischemic stroke, which is caused by blood clots that deprive the brain of oxygen, for the medicine and health project she submitted to the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Currently, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is used to treat ischemic stroke. Its shortcomings include the risk of bleeding elsewhere and an inability to stop new clots from forming. To create her targeted therapy, Ambika used magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated with a layer of anti-coagulant to prevent more clots from forming and a layer of tPA to break up the clot. She then enclosed the nanoparticles in a shell to create an injectable microbubble and coated it with small proteins, called peptides, which are attracted to blood clots. She observed that her microbubbles were twice as effective as tPA alone at dissolving clots and show promise as a potential ischemic stroke treatment.
At Greenwich High School, Ambika is president of the Girls Who Code Club, the economics club and the debate team and is one of 12 debaters selected from 140,000 to compete internationally with the USA Debate Team. The daughter of Jyoti and Rahul Grover, she also plays the viola in a string quartet.
Beyond the Project
Ambika, who sees herself one day conducting cardiovascular disease research, has applied for a patent for her microbubble. She already has a provisional patent for research using nitric oxide in exhaled breath as a marker for exposure to pollution.
FUN FACTS: Ambika hopes to minor in economics in college and enjoys exploring the intersectionality of
economics and related fields such as technology.