SoCalBio BioGENEius Challenge
The SoCal BioGENEius Challenge offers exceptional high school students in Southern California a chance to compete and gain recognition for their exemplary biotechnology research.
2025 Regional BioGENEius Award Challenge Winners
SoCalBio is proud to announce the winners and runners-up in its 2025 regional BioGENEius Award challenge. The students and their poster presentations that participated in the California State Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF) in 2025 and were from high schools in the SoCalBio region were considered for this award. Ten finalists were selected from the region for interviews, and then 3 winners and three runners-up were selected from all the excellent posters.
The winners this year are:
First Place: Ms. Annika Chatterjee from University High School, Irvine, $700 and a certificate
Peroxynitrite Biochemical Signaling Regulates Micro RNA (miR21) Activation of NLRP3 Inflammasome and is Key to PCOS Severity
Second Place: Mr. Andrew Huang from The Webb Schools, Claremont, $500 and a certificate
Design of Protein Binders Targeting the Interleukin-6 Signaling Complex to Inhibit Amyloid-β-Induced Ferroptosis
Third Place: Mr. Nathan Kang, $200 and a certificate
Design and Characterization of Novel Imatinib-Loaded Nanoparticles for Localized Immunomodulation
Runners Up
Mr. Jason Sun for project: Decoding Neural Signatures: Advanced Machine Learning for Early Detection and Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease
Mr. Adrian Pham, Mr. Ilia Ghatei from El Camino Real Charter High (Woodland Hills) for project: PharmaGenesis: A novel drug discovery platform to design novel, bioactive, drug-like compounds on track to be the first FDA-approved drugs for CTNNB1
Ms. Liwen Cheng for project: Structure-Based d-Peptide Alpha-Synuclein Inhibitors: Tackling Solubility, Specificity, and Bioavailability Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease Therapy
Each runners up got a certificate signifying their participation and selection. SoCalBio is pleased to congratulate this year’s winners and wish them great success in their future studies.
About
SoCalBio STEM College Bound Support Initiative (CBSI) team is honored to announce that support for our 2025 program is now open. SoCalBio’s CBSI initiative (20 + years running) in support of high school STEM education state wide supports our college bound students with cash awards based on their scientific proposal in conjunction with California Science Fair. In the 2023-2024 SoCalBio awarded three students cash award prizes and plaques (and their high schools with a cash donation) and three runner’s up with certificates.
Join us in supporting the next generation of innovators. There are several ways to help support our program and benefit our community.
First, by donating money to support the awards, plaques, and certificates. Industry sponsorship provides funds to support our STEM student winners and runners-up and their high schools. Strong support will allow us to assist even more students.
Second, by volunteering to participate in the judging committee. If interested in being on the judging committee, contact Tom Lobl (Tom@socalbio.org). Our judging committee selects the brightest students from a variety of STEM programs from CA State Fair applications that come from our SoCalBio territory.
Third, by creating mentorship relationships with awardees so that the students will learn from the mentorships in preparation for college and, ultimately, careers in technology.
Donate by Mail:
Southern California Biomedical Council
Attn: SoCalBio BioGENEius Challenge
10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1101
Los Angeles, CA 90024
About the Biotechnology Institute
The Biotechnology Institute is an independent, national nonprofit organization dedicated to education about the present and future impact of biotechnology. Its mission is to engage, excite and educate the public, particularly students and teachers, about biotechnology and its immense potential for solving human health, food and environmental problems. For more information, visit www.biotechinstitute.org.
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