Only three high school students in the United States won the 2024 American Academy of Neurology Neuroscience Research Prize in recognition of an outstanding research project, and North Allegheny’s own Thrisha Kalpatthi was one of them.
Kalpatthi’s project is titled “RhoA Signaling Is a Convergence Point for Nogo Receptor and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Modulation of Synapse Stabilization.”
While the content of the project is very technical, Kalpatthi explained that it explores memory development and memory loss, such as for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. RhoA is part of the Rho family of proteins, which help regulate the movement of cells.
Each winner of the AAN research prize received a $1,000 prize, certificate of recognition and the opportunity to present their work during a scientific poster session at the AAN’s 76th annual meeting in Denver this spring.
Kalpatthi, who lives in Marshall, said she is “very into neuroscience,” and actually started doing research of that type while she was a sophomore. She’d sometimes spend eight to nine hours a day during summers at a research lab at the University of Pittsburgh, working with her mentor, Dr. Zachary Wills, who is a principal investigator there.
He supervised her work throughout the RhoA project.
Kalpatthi, 18, enjoys doing the research.
“I think that the reason I still keep doing it is because it’s very intensive. The research I do, you’re kind of on your own a lot,” she said.
As a volunteer at a senior center, Kalpatthi sees people lose their memory over time.
“One issue in such diseases is the majority of studies are done long after the disease has manifested and symptoms have onset,” she said.
She believes research like this can address memory loss problems sooner in life, treating it at an earlier stage.
Kalpatthi has also competed in Brain Bee, a neuroscience competition for teenagers. And she is on her school’s Science Bowl team and is president of the anatomy club. She is also president of the National French Honor Society at North Allegheny.
She and her sister Havisha, a sophomore at NA, created the Pittsburgh Metro Math Competition for local students in third through eighth grade. The sisters secured sponsorships, advertised and wrote the questions for the competitions with the help of their sponsor, Daniel Williams, who teaches at Marshall Middle School.
Over the past two years, they’ve raised about $2,000 in donations and sponsorships, donating it to Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Brashear High School.
Kalpatthi is still applying to colleges, trying to find the right fit.
“I’m very certain I want to be a doctor and researcher. So I want to provide individualized care to patients and also advance the neuroscience field as a whole,” she said. “Patients need face-to-face care. They need that compassion. We need to advance drug therapies.”
Her parents, who are from India, are certainly pleased.
“They didn’t really expect this. They’re thrilled,” said Kalpatthi, who also has a brother in third grade.
The AAN award is designed to encourage high school students to explore the world of the brain and nervous system through research, identify and reward those students whose scientific skill and talent indicate potential for scientific contributions in the field of neuroscience, and recognize the efforts of science teachers who have demonstrated support for students interested in neuroscience, according to www.aan.com.
Natalie Beneviat is a Trib Total Media contributing writer.