Congratulations to Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (ASMSA) senior Meera Patel and her UAMS graduate student mentors, Reham Sewilam and Bethany Paxton. Meera won multiple prestigious awards for her research exploring novel ways to battle cancer risks. Meera earned first place in the Medicine and Health Sciences division and was a finalist for the overall awards at the West Central Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which was held at ASMSA on February 27th-28th, 2025. Meera subsequently won first place in the Medicine and Health Sciences category at the 71st annual Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair, which was held at the University of Central Arkansas on April 4th and 5th. Additionally, Meera was awarded the Naval Science Award from the Office of the Navy for excellent student research. Meera also placed 5th in the Arkansas Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and qualified for the National Symposium, which is a STEM competition for high school students sponsored by the Department of Defense.
Meera conducted her award-winning research in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Eoff in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UAMS. This research and training opportunity was supported by award 2341253 (to R.L.E.) from the National Science Foundation.