Image by Wayne Wahls
Congratulations to Pulaski Academy high school students Nyera Ali and Akshara Chevireddy and their University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences mentor, Dr. Reine Protacio. The results of their project on precise genome editing were presented (and won several awards) in 2025 at the 43rd annual Central Arkansas Regional Science and Engineering Fair, the 71st annual Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair, and the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. The discoveries have now been published in a peer-reviewed scientific paper entitled “Long multiply marked DNA repair template reveals lengths and fidelity of genome editing tracts in Schizosaccharomyces pombe” in the journal microPublication Biology.
Akshara and Nyera conducted their award-winning research in the laboratory of Professor Wayne Wahls in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UAMS. This research and training opportunity was supported in part by a research project grant to Dr. Wahls from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (grant number NIH R01 GM145834).