“Transcriptome analysis of inhibitor of DNA binding 3 deficient naive T cells when differentiated to regulatory T cells or Th9 phenotypes.”  Sounds like Greek to me, but not to senior Lisa Deng.

Deng was selected as a semifinalist in the prestigious annual Siemens Competition in science, technology and math.

Her research focused on regulating the immune system to avoid inflammation.  This information is extremely important to the world of science because decreasing inflammation can prevent allergic reactions and asthma attacks, Deng said.

“When you have an allergic reaction, you have too much inflammation, so you could die,” Deng said.  “In that case, you’d want to research ways to downregulate the immune system so that the inflammation doesn’t kill you. Understanding how these cells are formed is important to the study of asthma, immune response and autoimmune diseases these cells are involved in.”

Along with Deng, 330 semifinalists were selected nationwide out of 2,440 entries. Fourteen other MCPS students were also named semifinalists.

The Siemens Foundation donates $7 million annually in support of educational initiatives in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, as well as $500,000 in scholarships to regional finalists in the competition. Deng did not qualify as a regional finalist.

“These incredible students have invested significant time and energy to advance research and exploration in critical fields,” David Etzwiler, CEO of the Siemens Foundation, said in a statement. “I commend the finalists for their outstanding achievements and wish them luck in the next phase of the competition.”

Deng expressed her gratitude for coworkers at NIH who mentored her throughout the project, she said. One reason Deng entered the competition was to gain recognition for her hard work.

“I worked at NIH for two summers, and I saw this as an opportunity to learn how to pool all my hard work together into a final, culminating project,” she said.