Ray Zhang
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Alexandria, Virginia
Biofilm Composition in Fungal Fusarium and Development of a Multi-Targeted Antifungal Treatment
Ray found a way to better treat drug-resistant fungal infections.
View Poster
Ray Zhang, 17, of Chantilly, VA, studied how to treat fungal infections for his Regeneron Science Talent Search cellular and molecular biology project. The fungus Fusarium causes infections in people and crops. Fusarium often forms sticky communities of cells called biofilms that better withstand drug treatments. When Ray was volunteering at the Prince William Medical Center, he met a child with a rare fungal infection. This inspired him to find better treatment options for these infections.
In his project, Ray studied how Fusarium builds biofilms. He used fluorescence spectroscopy to see how the fungi grew under different nutrient sources and temperatures. Then, he tested the effects of three antifungal drugs on the biofilms. He found that when he combined the three drugs, they better treated the biofilms than each drug used alone.
The child of Yun You and Guohua Zhang, Ray attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Alexandria, VA). There, he is co-captain of the congressional debate team and founder of the Voices of Healthcare Policy podcast. He also helps with communication and marketing in his mother’s tech repair business.
Beyond the Project
Ray is the co-founder and co-president of the nonprofit STEMology Learning. STEMology hosts health literacy workshops and distributes STEM and health education kits to underserved youth.
FUN FACTS: Ray became interested in ancient Chinese remedies in middle school. Now, he crafts these remedies using his own recipe notebook and a collection of medicinal herbs stored in old sewing tins.
