Jashvi Desai
Yorktown High School
Yorktown Heights, NY
7T MRI Insights Into Neuroinflammation and Compensatory Mechanisms in Long COVID-19
Jashvi Desai, 18, of Yorktown Heights, studied how the brain is different in people with long COVID for her Regeneron Science Talent Search medicine and health project.
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Many people with long COVID have cognitive symptoms, like brain fog, and research is still unraveling why. To better understand this phenomenon, Jashvi developed computer scripts and algorithms to analyze brain scans and memory tests. She found that people with long COVID had smaller memory-related brain regions and thicker outer layers in other areas of the brain. This could be a sign of inflammation.
In another analysis, she found that the thickness of the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s control center, was correlated with the ability to remember words in people with long COVID. Learning about changes in the brain during long COVID could lead to better treatments.
The child of Hina Desai and Nirmit Desai, Jashvi attends Yorktown High School, where she is the president and founder of its MEDLIFE chapter. Jashvi is a volunteer in the Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and is completing her EMT certification, having logged over 250 hours in ambulance ride-alongs. She enjoys hiking and swimming, acting as a junior coach for the local summer swim team.
Beyond the Project
Jashvi is the founder and president of her school’s chapter of MEDLIFE. She has organized seven fundraisers and five speaking events about global health inequities.
FUN FACTS: Jashvi is a volunteer in the Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and is completing her EMT certification. She has logged over 250 hours in ambulance ride-alongs and event standbys
