Two Connecticut high school seniors Meera Kannan and Gabrielle Bridgewater have published their study findings on “Leveraging public AI tools to explore systems biology resources in mathematical modeling” this month in the journal NPJ Systems Biology and Applications.
They conducted their research at UConn School of Medicine in the Laboratory of Dr. Michael Blinov as part of their Health Career Opportunity Programs experience.
“NPJ Systems Biology and Applications is one of the top journals in systems biology,” shares their proud mentor and senior study author Michael Blinov, Ph.D., associate professor of Genetics and Genome Sciences at the Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling at UConn School of Medicine. “The application of AI tools in biology is a rapidly evolving and exciting field. This is a great achievement for these high school students, and they deserve it through their hard work.”
On Feb. 22 the two high school students will be presenting their scientific findings virtually at the 62nd Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium hosted by the UConn Health-based CT AHEC program in Farmington. Each year the long-running, prestigious symposium gathers the state’s talented high school students exceling across the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“Thank you very much Dr. Blinov for your many years of dedication hosting our Health Career Opportunity Programs High School students in your research laboratory. The fact that these two high school students are co-first authors on a manuscript from research conducted in your Lab and presenting their research at the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at UConn Health is phenomenal,” shared Dr. Marja Hurley, UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and professor of medicine and orthopaedic surgery at UConn School of Medicine. Hurley is founder and associate dean of the Health Career Opportunity Programs at UConn Health.
“I’m very excited to share our findings with a larger group of people. I hope this will spur more exploration of the intersection of AI with other fields of medicine,” says Kannan.
“I am extremely excited to present our findings and share our hard work with the larger science community. I know our research is already published and out there for anyone who wants to read it, but getting to speak about it still feels so special,” says Bridgewater.
Blinov truly enjoys working with the eager to learn, dedicated, and hardworking HCOP students at UConn School of Medicine.
“Over the years, my HCOP students have played an essential role in many of my projects. My experiences with high school students have been very positive, and in this particular case, these two students were fortunate that their chosen study topic led to a quick success story,” Blinov says.
He finds it incredibly rewarding to see the gratitude and success of his past high school HCOP program students many of whom have gone on to have successful health care careers at places such as Yale, Cornell, and UConn.
“One of my most notable success stories is my 2017 HCOP student, Nathan Schaumburger. He later joined UConn and returned to work with me in 2020, which led to a 2023 publication, with another paper forthcoming. Nathan is now a graduate student at Harvard,” Blinov proudly shares.
Meet the Study Co-Authors
Lead co-author Meera Kannan, 18, is a senior at South Windsor High School. She hopes to become a future physician.
“It’s very exciting to be published. I was motivated to explore how AI could have a positive impact and make systems biology more accessible for students like me. I hope to continue working with Dr. Blinov and other professors at UConn in the future,” says Kannan.
Kannan credits HCOP for opening her mind further to both innovative medicine and research.
“I first heard about HCOP during a tour of UConn in my sophomore year. I was very interested in their mission as well as in conducting research, so I decided to apply. I think this program helped reveal the creativity behind medicine and taught me a lot about the impact of scientific innovation,” she says.
Kannan hopes to conduct more research in a variety of fields to broaden her horizons.
“I plan to pursue medicine, and this experience at UConn has been central in solidifying that commitment. The skills and perspectives I’ve learned here will definitely be invaluable as I explore the more rigorous side of medicine,” says Kannan.
Lead co-author Gabrielle Bridgewater, 17, is a senior at Tolland High School and also wants to be a future doctor.
“Being a published author and getting to conduct my own study is definitely the most exciting thing I’ve ever done and my proudest accomplishment to date,” Bridgewater exclaims. “It’s honestly also really motivating because it makes me so excited for what’s next and it really feels like the sky is the limit.”
“We chose to study AI because it’s a field that’s rapidly expanding and relevant to kids our age. When our peers have questions most of them look to AI to answer them, so we wanted to see how useful it could be for students who are interested in learning more about systems biology (like ourselves). It’s a relatively niche field which means in a lot of cases AI might be the most accessible tool to use if they want to educate themselves on the subject. We wanted to understand just how reliable of a tool it is, and its potential for studying systems biology,” she says.
Bridgewater was inspired to enter the health sciences and join the HCOP program by her father who is biochemist.
“During my junior year he was helping me look for summer opportunities where I could get hands on healthcare experience and he found the HCOP program. I truly enjoyed every moment of the program. I think it was especially unique because not only did I get research experience, but I also got to learn about the college and medical school application processes, talk to current pre-med undergraduates, and improve my public speaking skills. Without the program I would never have had access to this information and these opportunities,” she says.
“My experience with HCOP definitely solidified my passion for pursuing a career as a physician. It also sparked my interest in possibly going down the MD/PhD route which is a path I wasn’t previously aware of. I know I want to continue conducting research, gaining exposure to the health sciences, and exploring the intersection of AI and systems biology,” concludes Bridgewater.
