Pelham student finalist in national science competition

By LEN MANIACE
THE JOURNAL NEWS


(Original publication: December 1, 2007)
Alicia Darnell's image was scheduled to flash across the Jumbotron screen amid the dazzle of Times Square last night, and it all was due to the 17-year-old Pelham girl's love of science.


The high-voltage star treatment was accorded Darnell and the other national finalists in the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. The winners will be announced Monday and take home $100,000 scholarships.


A senior at Pelham Memorial High School, Darnell reached the finals on the strength of her research project from the summer, which may have helped uncover the molecular origins of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease.


"I'm just so excited about having made it this far, and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to discuss my research with my peer and experts in the field," Darnell said in a telephone interview from the city yesterday.


Darnell is one of six finalists in the individual portion of the competition who will present their work to a panel of scientists at New York University tomorrow. A total of 1,646 students entered the competition originally.


The 17-year-old's interest in science goes back to her parents, Robert and Jennifer Darnell, two researchers at Rockefeller Institute on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Darnell remembers dinner conversations in the family's Pelham home where her father, a physician, took science down to the level of a 5-year-old.


"My dad would explain what DNA is, or what a protein is, or how the meat we were eating is related to muscle tissue," Darnell recalled. "Or he would try to convince us to eat our fish because it had Omega-5 oil in it, which is supposed to make you smarter."


Teachers describe Darnell as accomplished and energetic, but also down-to-earth and somewhat quiet and reserved.


"When you get to know her, though, you can see she is passionate about what she does," said teacher Irene Gruber, whose science-research class enabled Darnell to pursue her research at Harvard University over the summer.


Darnell said she became interested in ALS in her sophomore year while working on a school report defending the ethics of stem-cell research. ALS is one of the diseases that researchers hope could be treated using stem-cell research. The disease causes the gradual death of nerve cells connected to muscles, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis and eventually death.


The teen followed that up with her own reading into the causes into the origins of ALS, a disease that still mystifies researchers. What caught her attention, she said, was research that suggested an ALS connection to a defect in how the body makes neurotransmitters, proteins which trigger muscle movement. The suspect was was a flaw in RNA, the chemical cousin to DNA which contains the genetic instructions for living things.


Darnell's research compared RNA taken from the spinal cord tissue of normal mice and special mice bred to contract ALS and focused on those genes involved in producing the neurotransmitters. The first results showed a strong difference between the first pair of mice. The find was confirmed when she tried it again with three other pairs of mice.


"There was a tremendous difference. It was beautiful," said Darnell recalling the moment she saw the first results. "And then I ran outside and called my parents."


Though science comes first, Darnell has enough interests and activities for three students: she's on the school's varsity lacrosse team; sports editor of the school newspaper; a member of the student senate; president of the science honors society; and a member of the environmental science club. Also, she's played the violin since she was three.


Nicole Wasnetsky, an English teacher whose had Alicia in three classes, called her "a rare gem."


"Oftentimes a student has a passion for one area, Wasnetsky said. "She loves science, but she also has passion for writing and the creative arts, as well."

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Reach Len Maniace at lmaniace@lohud.com or 914-694-5163.