MHS team places second in science competition

MANALAPAN — A group of Manalapan High School sophomores who came up with an idea to use innovative gene therapy technology to cure people with HIV/AIDS have moved up in the ranks of competition.

Mojin Chen, Vaidhy Murti, Tejas Srinivasan and Jeremy Puthumana, all of whom are students in the Freehold Regional High School District's Science and Engineering Learning Center at Manalapan High School, recently received second place honors in their age category (grades 10-12) in the national level of the ExploraVision science competition sponsored by Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

The ExploraVision Awards Program is the world's largest K-12 science and technology competition with 4,388 team entries this year, representing 13,774 students.

As noted in an article that was published in the April 8 edition of the News Transcript, the four young men, all of whom reside in the Morganville section of Marlboro, were honored at a ceremony held March 31 at Manalapan High School after being named one of the 24 regional winning teams in this year's competition.

Under the guidance of their chemistry teacher, Bharathi Srinivas, the students entered the competition and were challenged to imagine ideas that use future technology to reflect changes they would like to see made in the world.

The students came up with CHANGE (Counteracting HIV/AIDS through New Gene Enhancement). They believe their concept has the potential to cure human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

The Manalapan students are among eight first- and second-place teams in grade levels ranging from kindergarten through 12 that can have the distinction of winning the competition.

As second-place winners, each team member of Team CHANGE will receive a U.S. Savings Bond valued at $5,000 at maturity. In addition, they will be attending the gala awards weekend June 4-7 in Washington, D.C., with their families, mentor (Kamala Murti) and coach (Bharathi Srinivas) as part of their prize.

Activities in Washington will include a visit to Capital Hill to meet with members of Congress and a science showcase during which the students will present their winning ideas. The highlight of the weekend will be an awards banquet and ceremony where the students will be formally recognized for their creativity and accomplishments.

— Amy Rosen