Christopher Zorn, Irvington High School
Thomas Cong, Ossining High School
By Dan Murphy
Ossining High School senior Thomas Cong and Irvington High School senior Christopher Zorn accomplished the academic honor of being named a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.
Cong and Zorn are among 40 finalists.
Cong’s project was- Overlooked Covariates in Metabolite Abundance Levels: Systematically Quantifying the Information Overlap Between Gene Expression and Metabolism Across Multiple Cancer Types. Zorn studied- The Role of MYC in RET Fusion Tumorigenesis and RET Inhibitor Resistance.
Thomas Yu-Tong Cong, 17, of Ossining, researched the rapid growth of certain types of cancers and wondered whether information needed to control metabolism is primarily conveyed by expression of genes for his Regeneron Science Talent Search computational biology and bioinformatics project. For drug developers, metabolic pathways have traditionally been a prime target, so Thomas aimed to evaluate that premise and found it questionable. He applied a statistical framework he developed to large cancer metabolism datasets, and he was able to systematically isolate the intersection between information transcribed from genes and the metabolic machinery those genes are responsible for. He concluded that factors like the cancer’s tissue of origin, its surrounding environment in the body, and how many cancer cells there are in a mass, strongly influence metabolic signatures. This suggests that a more complex landscape of metabolic variation exists.
The son of Guojing Cong and Min Qu, Thomas is a Yale Book Award winner. He attends Ossining High School where he heads the cross-country team and swims competitively in the 200m medley relay, the 100m breaststroke, and the 200m and 400m freestyle relays.
Christopher Zorn, 17, of Irvington, studied how RET, a gene involved in cellular signals, and the MYC genes, which regulate cell growth and death, affect one another in genetically modified lung cancer cells for his Regeneron Science Talent Search medicine and health project. RET commonly fuses with other genes and leads to many types of tumor development. Christopher created multiple lung cancer cell lines with different RET gene fusion combinations, introduced various chemical agents, and then measured the resulting MYC protein levels. He found the MYC levels were elevated in most of the cell lines, and often led to treatment resistance. He believes his work merits further research on the relationship between RET and MYC, the mechanism that leads to treatment resistance, and potentially targeting RET and MYC together for future treatments.
At Irvington High School, Christopher co-founded and is president of the math club. He also helped start a nature clean-up program, now with more than 100 volunteers, to combat an invasive species. The son of James Zorn and Vesselina Traptcheva, Christopher wants to use his bioengineering skills to broaden his research to combat global challenges.
“Every year, the Regeneron Science Talent Search helps inspire and engage a new wave of talented young scientists with the potential to improve the world,” said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder, Board Co-Chair, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron and a winner in the 1976 STS. “I congratulate these exceptional young finalists as they embark on their scientific journeys. As someone who got my start in this very competition, I know firsthand how the Science Talent Search experience can help jumpstart students’ future academic and career journeys.”
Finalists will participate in a week-long competition from March 6-13, 2024, where they will undergo a rigorous judging process and compete for more than $1.8 million in awards. They will also have an opportunity to interact with leading scientists and share research with the public on March 10, both in person and virtually. The top 10 Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024 winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on March 12, streamed live from Washington D.C.
