Koleinu

SAR Students Involved in Cutting Edge Research and Prestigious Abstracts and Publications
Several SAR High School students spent the past summer working in research laboratories around the world. We are proud to announce that four of our students have either co-authored abstracts or have been cited in science publications over the past few months.

Talia Saal, a 10th grader working in the laboratory of Dr. Susan Steinberg at the Columbia Presbyterian College of Physicians and Surgeons was acknowledged for her technical assistance in a Journal of Biological Chemistry article entitled "Protein Kinase D1 Autophosphorylation Via Distinct Mechanisms At Ser-744/Ser-748 and Ser-916" by V. O Rybin, J. Guo and S. Steinberg (November 24, 2008). She conducted experiments related to heart muscle in which she determined the levels of particular proteins in patient samples. Talia also performed electrophoresis on the samples to separate the proteins for further analysis.

Michael Rieghaupt, a 12th grader, also studied heart muscle working at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His job was to alter a protein in muscle fibers in a way that would not inhibit the function of that heart muscle. The altered protein could then be used to track the muscle in later tests. He is listed as one of the co-authors of an abstract entitled "Structural and Functional Characterization of a cTn T in Familial Hypertophic Cardiomyopathy" by Rachel K. Moore, John Wilson, Pia Guinto, Michael Riegelhaupt, Gary Gerfen, Jil Tardiff (October 7, 2008).

Noam White, a 12th grader, spent his second summer at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he studied colorectal cancer. Specifically, he compared a process called methylation of the promoter region of an oncogene (cancer causing gene) in two forms of colorectal cancer. He submitted a paper to the Intel Science Talent Search entitled "Hypermethylation of CpG islands in the CDK2AP1 promoter region in microsatellite unstable colorectal cancers which are characterized by the down regulation of CDK2AP1". In addition, he is listed as a co-author in four abstracts published by his lab.

Daniel Chamudot, an 11th grader, spent his second summer working at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center developing ways to better image the prostate gland for detecting, measuring and monitoring cancer. In Daniel's own words, "To ensure that the images correspond to the actual features of the prostate cancer, they are digitally warped to pathological images of the prostate once it has been removed from the body. We are designing a new method for this warping, or 'Registration,' which also measures the amount of distortion between the two images."He is listed as a co-author in the abstract to be submitted, entitled, "Registration of Magnetic Resonance Images of the Prostate Obtained with an Endorectal Coil to Histological Sections" by Yousef Mazaheri, O. Akin, Amita Shukla-Dave, Daniel Chamudot, L. Wang, Johanna Grater, Samson W. Fine, V. Reuter, Jason A. Koutcher, and H. Hricak. Based on his feedback to Dr. Mazaheri on the abstract, Daniel has been asked to take the lead on this project.

Daniel Cohen, an 11th grader, worked in a lab at Rockefeller University studying chemosensation in the nematode C. elegans. C. elegans is a small round worm with a transparent body and small number of neurons. It can sense chemicals around it much as humans can smell food. Daniel studied the patterns of the worm's preference for certain bacteria in their diet, with the hopes of determining the genetic basis for this preference. Daniel recently submitted his research paper to the New York City Science and Engineering Fair.

Daniel Kaplan, a 10th grader, spent his summer working at Hebrew University (Givat Ram campus) in the Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry. He worked in the laboratory of Dr. Nissim Garti and under the direct supervision of Dr. Avraham Aserin. His lab is investigating a variety of nutraceuticals,and how they are released into the body. Nutraceuticals are plant, fruit, vegetable and root extracts that might be able to provide some health benefits and possibly treat specific diseases.

We are proud of the achievements of our students and thrilled to see them involved in cutting edge research at the frontiers of scientific discovery.

Bob Goodman
Tobie Brandriss
Science Curriculum Coordinators

Ninth and Tenth Grade Health Curriculum Underway
The 9th and 10th graders at SAR High School recently completed the first semester of the Health Education Program. Four health classes were integrated into the weekly schedule with the collaboration of 9th and 10th grade history teachers. The health curriculum, which was created and implemented by Russell Hoffman (SAR School Psychologist) and Russi Bohm (SAR School Nurse), was designed to facilitate adolescents' awareness of their developing independence and their increasingly active role in maintaining their physical and psychological health.

A major focus of the health curriculum is to provide students with accurate and comprehensive information, and to encourage them to use this information to make positive, healthy choices in their lives. For example, the Stress and Stress Management unit, which was presented to both 9th and 10th grades, prompted students to think about managing their stress in two ways: by avoiding/minimizing exposure to things that cause them stress, and by learning ways to mitigate the negative impact that unavoidable stress has on their bodies and psyches. Toward this end, students brainstormed a list of stressors, divided the list into "Avoidable/Controllable" and "Have-To-Learn-To-Live-With" categories, and were taught some basic relaxation techniques such as focused breathing and progressive muscular relaxation. Other topics covered in the health class included exercise, nutrition and eating disorders for the 9th grade, and emotional health and substance use/abuse issues for the 10th grade. Four more health classes will be integrated into the schedule during second semester as well.

Russell Hoffman, Psy.D.