{"id":166433,"date":"2026-04-15T11:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166433\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:38:20","slug":"bc-senior-honored-for-alzheimers-disease-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166433\/","title":{"rendered":"BC senior honored for Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5346-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"person in suit and tie standing in front of poster board\" width=\"525\" height=\"394\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-68301 size-large\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Congratulations to Bethlehem Central High School senior Jacob Lyubarov, who received the Linda Austin DNA Science &amp; Technology Award at last weekend\u2019s Regeneron Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair (GCRSEF).<\/p>\n<p>Now in its 36th year, the GCRSEF showcases students\u2019 original scientific research. This year, competitors from 30 high schools presented projects across 22 categories, ranging from animal science and environmental engineering to translational medical science.<\/p>\n<p>Lyubarov\u2019s project, \u201cTranscriptomic Analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes and Alternative Splicing Events in Patients with Alzheimer\u2019s Disease,\u201d analyzed a previously published dataset of mRNA extracted from neurons of brains with and without Alzheimer\u2019s. Using programming to compile and analyze the raw data, he identified trends in gene expression and expression levels. His work uncovered multiple genes not previously directly linked to Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy great-grandmother, whom I used to visit monthly growing up, suffered from Alzheimer\u2019s dementia, which sparked my interest in neuroscience,\u201d Lyubarov said. \u201cI was always interested in math and computer science, so I wanted to learn more about bioinformatics. I felt like this research project allowed me to both research Alzheimer\u2019s and learn bioinformatics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lyubarov credited his mentor, Claudia Lennon, a bioinformatics specialist at UAlbany\u2019s RNA Institute, and Jennifer Gonyea, the district\u2019s K\u201312 science supervisor, for their support in preparing him for the fair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJacob\u2019s passion for scientific research took root in ninth grade and has only intensified since,\u201d Gonyea said. \u201cFollowing months of rigorous work at UAlbany, his bioinformatics research identified genes that warrant further study in relation to Alzheimer\u2019s progression.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis award at the Regeneron Science Fair is a well-deserved recognition of his technical expertise and tireless work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether he plans to continue research after high school, Lyubarov replied, \u201cOf course. I want to pursue computational neuroscience and medical device development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Way to go, Jacob!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congratulations to Bethlehem Central High School senior Jacob Lyubarov, who received the Linda Austin DNA Science &amp; Technology&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[43998,153,155,154],"class_list":["post-166433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bchs-news","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}