The Wingspan

Centennial High School's Daily Online News Source

The Wingspan

The Wingspan

Sanya Ahmed: Stem Cell Researcher

Words: Caroline Chu

Sanya Ahmed, a Centennial High School junior, will be participating in the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST) regional science fair at George Washington University. The event will take place April 1-3. MIST is an organization geared towards bringing Muslim high school students around the country together through various tournaments of both the athletic and academic nature.

Ahmed’s project will focus on using online databases and bioinformatics to determine the ideal microenvironment to transform stem cells into functional kidney cells. She has been working with her sister, senior Hira Ahmed, on the project. Both students are involved in Howard County’s MIST group.

“The lack of functional organs in the medical market is a constant struggle in the industrial world and, as a result, many people are limited in their daily lives or confined to hospitals,” said S. Ahmed.

S. Ahmed explains that, “developing more efficient ways to culture tissues allows not only individuals, but our human species as a whole, to live longer, populate, and make our mark in history. By helping to prevent disease and essentially prolonging lives, we have entered a fight against time, crucial for protecting those we care for most.”

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