The-Leader_2006-11-06

              Let's salute oar Veterans!
see pages 6.15
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71st Year, No. 45 Freeport, N.Y. 11520
The Community Newspaper
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Meet Freeport's scientific standouts!
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FREEPORT HIGH SCHOOL
student science researchers Michaelle Exhume, Charles Lamar and Harold Colon were invited to present their research at a November international sci­ence conference in Michigan.
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Three Freeport High School science research students were invited to present their work at the international conference and meeting of the Sigma Xi Research Society—the world's oldest and most prestigious science society, in which more than 200 Nobel laureates hold membership.
The students invited were I2th-graders Harold Colon and Michaelle Exhume, and llth-grader Charles Lamar. Michaelle and Charles traveled to the conference in early November to present their work on posters and orally for the society's scientist-judges. The three were among only a few high school students invited to present their work; most of the 50 student participants are college and university students.
Harold. Michaelle and Charles stud­ied during the summer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and pre­sented their work there as well.
Harold's research, "Cold \'apor .'\tomic .Absorption in Determining Seafood Safety,'" was initiated to ascer­tain whether the Cold Vapor Atomic .Absorption method could be used to measure mercury levels in seafood. He used canned tuna, shrimp and crab to test which retained the most mercury, and also studied the accumulation of mercury?
in different parts of the animals. The data collected by Harold, who hopes to become a surgeon, will help determine the amount of mercury ingested by humans who eat seafood regularly. His study is ongoing.
Michaelle's study of "Marine Sponges as a Mwiel for Tissue Recognition" may ultimately help scien­tists understand the immune system and why the body rejects certain tissues dur­ing organ transplants.
Her project has shown that when spe­cific species of sponges are dissociated in a seawater solution, they soon clump togedter in an attempt to refonn the orig­inal sponge structure, while mixing cells of different species produces a different result. Sponges, like humans, she found, are able ta distinguish between "self and "non-self* Michaelle looks forward to a career as a neurologist.
Charles" research, like Harold's. involved study of mercury. Titled "Mercury as an Indicator of Autistic Disorder," the study was initiated to dis­cover whether levels of excreted mercury in head hair could be used as an accurate indicator of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
His preliminarj' experiments showed that non-autistic volunteers were better able to excrete mercury through their hair
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follicles than were autistic volunteer par­ticipants. His findings support the hypothesis that autistic people developed the disorder in part, not because they were exposed to mercury, but because they were unable to excrete it as effi­ciently. Charles wants to go forward with science research as his career.
"It is an extraordinary honor for our students to be invited to present their
research investigations at this meeting," said Freeport Science Coordinator Dr. Nicholas Tzimopoulos. "I congratulate our staff, and I am very proud of our research program, even though it is only in its third year." The Freeport High School science research program has grown from 35 students in 2004-05 to 146 students this school year.