Teen's Brain Study on Suicide Earns $50K Prize

Natasha Kulviwat, a 16-year-old high school student, won $50,000 at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for her research on the brains of people who died by suicide. She found that the brains of those who died by suicide contained higher numbers of inflammatory cytokines, which affected a specific protein in the brain known as claudin-5. Elevated levels of claudin-5 in the brain might serve as a biomarker of suicide risk. Kulviwat hopes her research will help identify a physiological process involved in suicide and aid in developing more targeted pharmaceutical treatments for prevention.