A Tallahassee scientist's work has won a prestigious award. What makes this story even more significant is the fact that scientist is still in high school.
Her given name is Shaoxuan Ma, but everyone knows her as "Lily" Ma. She's a senior at Tallahassee's Chiles High School and she recently earned national recognition after receiving the 2026 Humane Science Award from the National Anti-Vivisection Society. Lily says she's been a big science fan for years.
"My family has always been science oriented. So I definitely just grew around it. And so throughout middle school, I definitely got more into it and I started reaching out to see where I could get some hands-on lab experience."
For Lily, that experience would ultimately come by working with researchers at the Florida A&M/Florida State University College of Engineering. That in turn led to her deep experimental dive into potentially new approaches for treating Alzheimer's Disease.
"I looked at these tiny particles called extra cellular vesicles. They're essentially just little packages that are sent between cells when they're communicating and I looked at how we could use these packages from stem cells to prevent or slow down Alzheimer's Disease."
That research earned Lily one of just five Humane Science Awards presented at this year's Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, the world's largest pre-college science competition. Lily says that's in complete harmony with her personal values as a researcher.
"That's a very important focus that I would also like my current research and my research down the line to focus on is maintaining that it is ethical and not harming animals or anything else in the process. And I think with new technology, that's something that's becoming completely possible."
As to Lily's own possibilities, she has a few plans in the works. Most immediately, pursuing engineering and bio-sciences at the collegiate level. And then?
"I definitely want to continue working with science in some type of way, whether that be hands-on lab research like I'm doing right now, or potentially even supporting it through policy or the law. It's all up in the air right now, but I'm really passionate about the work that I've done so far and I really want to continue it and keep it going."
And no matter what happens next, Tallahassee's Lily Ma will always be able to include the phrase, "award-winning bio-science researcher" in her resume.
