A Chiles High School student was in Pittsburg as part of an international science fair. His project focuses on Alzheimer’s.
Jeffrey Zhu has been working for the past two years on a project using fruit flies to investigate the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s. After winning the competition in Tallahassee, Zhu got a ticket to Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair, along with entrants from almost eighty other countries.
“What I’m trying to look at is finding an early detection method, or finding methods to prevent Alzheimer’s,” Zhu says. “I’m looking at the genetic basis of the disease, seeing which genes specifically targets aspects of the genome that cause the disease to develop.”
Zhu is headed to New York University in the fall. He’s planning on continuing his work in science with an eye toward neurodegenerative diseases.
