65th Annual STS (2005-2006)
Finalists
Yuan Zhang

MARYLAND
Yuan Zhang, 17, of Derwood, submitted a project in medicine and health to the Intel Science Talent Search. Chelsea studied the molecular mechanisms behind atherosclerosis, or arterial plaque buildup, a disease in which lipid-laden macrophages - fat-filled white blood cells - build up in the vessel wall. The cell-adhesion chemokine molecule CX3CL1 has been implicated in the process. In her study using human cells, Chelsea demonstrated that the adhesion of macrophages to arterial muscle cells was largely CX3CL1-dependent and that components of oxidized lipids increased its expression. She believes targeting the upregulation of CX3CL1 by oxidized lipids could yield drug treatments for atherosclerosis. Chelsea has perfect SAT scores in critical reading, math and writing and has earned numerous awards in writing, science and math. She hopes to attend MIT or Harvard and pursue a career applying information technology to research. She is managing features editor of the school newspaper and co-president of the computer team at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. The daughter of Ruiqiu Zhang and Jingfen Wu, Chelsea was born in China and is fluent in Chinese.