Student named to Siemens list

East Meadow senior is honored for pain relief research

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When Alby Joseph got a text message from his parents one crisp October morning, his heart sank and his palms began to sweat.

Then he read the message. He had been named a semifinalist in the elite Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. His parents attached a photo they’d shot of the 17-year-old’s W.T. Clarke High School picture alongside those of 69 other Long Island semifinalists that appeared in Newsday.

“I was in complete shock,” Joseph recalled. “I just couldn’t believe it. My parents were so excited when they saw me in the paper, but I just couldn’t believe I made the list.”


Joseph, a Clarke senior, was named one of 498 Siemens semifinalists on Oct. 18, for his cancer and medicinal chemistry research. The contest honors students across the country who excel in math, science and technology.

Joseph is an aspiring scientist whose passion for chemistry research drove him to apply to one of Stony Brook University’s most esteemed professor-led research programs. Stumbling on the Ojima Research Group’s page, Joseph knew right away that Prof. Iwao Ojima’s research was the clear choice for his endeavor.

“I looked at his research for new pain relief mechanisms and tumor-targeting delivery systems — cancer research as well — so right away I became really interested in his work,” Joseph said. Nervously, he applied to Ojima’s summer research program. Ojima chose only two high school students to join his team, and Joseph was one of them.

“He impressed me by his quite good study on the research projects that were ongoing in my research laboratory as well as his sincere attitude toward scientific research with very healthy curiosity,” Ojima wrote in a email. (He is currently in Tokyo for an annual consulting and lecture trip, but his admiration for Joseph came through clearly in his emails.) “He did his extensive summer research last year at the Long Island University by devoting 7 hours a day, 5 days a week!” Ojima continued. “Thus, I accepted him out of more than 30 elite high school student applicants.”

Hitting the ground running

Joseph took an eastbound train to Stony Brook University one summer morning, wondering whether his research skills would yield a groundbreaking discovery in Ojima’s lab. Posters of the professor’s research decorated the walls of the lab. “Seeing the lab open and people in the lab working together and collaborating together eased the nervousness for me,” Joseph said.

Ojima, who also serves as the director of Stony Brook’s Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery, said he offered Joseph several research options. After showing interest in Ojima’s “pain control” project — which involves computational and structural biology, chemical synthesis, biochemical assay and efficacy study in animal models — Ojima said Joseph excelled, with curiosity and talent.

“The idea around the new pain-relief mechanism project is to reduce side effects of over-the-counter medicine,” Joseph explained. “People often take that type of medication because it’s so easy to buy and it provides almost immediate relief. They don’t need prescriptions for it. The problem with this type of medication is the side effects attached to it, like nausea or gastrointestinal problems. So the project focuses on finding a new area in the body to provide a therapeutic pathway.”

Joseph said that the research in Ojima’s lab had already led to the discovery of a protein in the body that helps transport a molecule that brings about natural pain relief, but the molecule breaks down during the transport process. The goal for researchers was to stop the protein from transporting the pain relief molecule in order to prolong the pain relief effect.

Ojima’s research had led to a compound that stopped the protein transportation. Joseph used that information to build a set of compounds that yielded better results. Using computational biology, he designed more than 250 new compounds that could stop or inhibit the protein.

“He enjoyed the computational analysis …,” Ojima said. “Through my long experience with exceptionally talented high school summer students, I knew that Alby would absorb scientific principles and techniques quickly.”

‘I had some rough days’

Providing a gateway to a new class of compounds wasn’t an easy process. “I had some rough days,” Joseph said, sitting in the small conference room in Clarke’s main office. “I was frustrated sometimes because I just couldn’t come up with something new. I spent eight hours a day, five days a week at the lab, and sometimes I came home with no new discoveries.”

Ojima said he prepared Joseph for the grueling summer. “I first explained to him the challenges for a high school student to join a research laboratory in a graduate school and skipping four years of college education,” Ojima said.

But, he added, Joseph’s tenacity and passion helped him thrive. After he completed the summer program and started his senior year at Clarke, Joseph’s research and biology teacher, Erika Rotolo — with Ojima’s encouragement — suggested that he enter the Siemens contest.

“Alby put his heart and soul into learning everything he could about the pain relief mechanisms within the body, and was able to design and synthesize two compounds that can be used within the medical and pharmaceutical field,” Rotolo said. “This is such an incredible accomplishment for a high school student.”

Rotolo said Joseph was her first student to be named a Siemens semifinalist. He is the second student in East Meadow School District history to receive the honor, and it is one he does not take lightly.

“I’m still in shock,” he said, placing a hand over his heart. “I’m so thankful for Professor Ojima and Ms. Rotolo’s guidance and help. I’m grateful for my parents’ support. It’s not just my name that made it to the list, it’s my school’s name too. It’s my group’s name that I worked with at Professor Ojima’s lab, and it’s my family’s name too.”

Joseph said he hopes to feed his passion for science in college. He applied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is awaiting a response.

“He is a truly gifted high school student, extraordinarily bright, focused, creative, and superbly motivated, with nearly insatiable curiosity,” Ojima said. “I believe Alby can achieve distinction in any field he chooses to pursue.”