Uma Maya Sthanu
Westwood High School
Austin, TX
GPCR Signaling as a Therapeutic Target for Axon Regeneration Following Injury
Uma Maya Sthanu, 17, of Austin, studied a way to regrow damaged nerve cells for her Regeneron Science Talent Search cellular and molecular biology project.
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Current treatments to restore nerve function after an injury or neurological disease are lacking. In her project, Uma tested whether prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a molecule released by support cells in nerves, can help with regrowth. She cut cultured nerve cells to mimic damage, then treated them with PGE2.
She saw that the treatment improved cell survival, regrowth and readiness to fire electrical signals. Uma also compared her results with data from real-world injured nerve cells and proposed a way for PGE2 to be delivered as a medicine. Her work could offer a potential approach to developing treatments to restore sensation and other nerve functions.
The child of Ambuja and Subbu Sthanu, Uma attends Westwood High School.
Beyond the Project
Uma founded T2L Academy, which has delivered more than 2,000 tutoring hours to help underserved students enter STEM competitions. She also encourages high school students to conduct research that solves real-world problems.
FUN FACTS: Uma is developing TBDetect, a low-cost machine learning system that aims to help small rural hospitals better detect tuberculosis.
