The title of Lev Shaket’s research paper doesn’t sound like a typical high school science paper: “Unwrapping Myelination: Myelination Regulation in ™-NRG1 +/- Transgenic Mice.”
But that’s probably because Shacket is not really your typical high school student.
This junior is a devoted scientist who raps in his free time.
On March 1, his paper on myelination won first place at the Georgia Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Myelination is a vital function of the nervous system.
In Shaket’s experiment, he dissected the sciatic nerve of three pairs of mice and then examined them under an electron microscope.
A breakdown in myelination can lead to multiple sclerosis, and Shaket’s research may suggest future ways to treat this disease.
Shaket will advance to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in San Diego from April 27 to May 3.
Chamblee seniors Chris Agocs and Tabby Khan also won fourth and sixth place, respectively, in the state’s symposium.
Agocs’ paper was about brain-computer interfaces, and he developed a protocol for a computer to interpret brain waves like a keyboard or a mouse. Entirely paralyzed people could use the device to communicate through computers.
Khan’s paper dealt with locating a specific receptor in the brain that is related to epilepsy and neuro-communication. Agocs and Khan will attend the symposium as observers, and their abstracts will be published in the program. This is the second year in a row that Shaket has won first place at the state symposium. He has won the grand prize at regional science fairs since seventh grade, and this year he won 11th place in the American Academy of Neurology neuroscience research competition.
“I’ve always been into math and science,” said Shaket, “There are so many discoveries left to be made. It’s amazing that I can say what the role of the cytoplasmic tail in myelination is, and nobody else knows that.”
Shaket talks about neurology like most high school jocks talk about football.
“The brain is the most interesting organ in the human body,” said Shaket, “We don’t even have a basic grasp of the functioning of the brain, so there is so much left to find.
Shaket worked on his most recent experiment for at least five days a week since November 2004.
“I guess I get a rush from completing projects,” said Shaket, “It’s just something I want to do. I’m always going to continue researching in college, hopefully in myelination, but if not that, then definitely neurology.