Blue Valley is home to many talented students, whether it be in academics or extracurricular activities. But one student, in particular, has demonstrated his commitment to not only academic excellence, but to the pursuit of scientific advancement in itself. This student is senior Kevin Singh.

Singh had gotten into contact with the Department of Cancer at the VA hospital in order to begin his research.

“I became interested in research because I wanted to learn more about medical research before I went to college,” Singh said. “I was able to obtain the position by emailing doctors that I knew at the VA and I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to research. I became very interested in the research and decided to do it all three summers of high school.”

Singh said that the primary goal of the research was to observe the effects of nano-particles on breast cancer tumor cells.

“Nano-particles serve as a sort of ‘bomb’ with the drug in it,” Singh said. “Once the nanoparticle reaches the tumor, it travels inside and bursts. The nano-particle allows for the drug to last longer within the bloodstream.”

Singh said that the research was conducted alongside postdoctoral researchers.

“We utilized a variety of laboratory equipment such as a confocal microscope and a Polymerase Chain Reaction machine,” Singh said. “Everyday would consist of observing the cell lines of the tumors and testing them.”

Singh explained that a major difficulty in this project was that despite being a high school student, the researchers expected him to learn things very quickly.

“As a result, much of this was a learning experience until the summer before my senior year where I could actually apply what I’ve learned into a research paper,” Singh said.

Singh said that the nano-particle actually achieved the goal set for the research.

Singh believes that since he started this project senior year, it has helped influence his desire to pursue a career in medicine.

“Getting to work on treatments as a high school student motivated me to pursue similar endeavors in the future,” Singh said. “The bottom line for me is that being able to actually help someone, even indirectly, is very rewarding. I would like to continue to help not only my community but people all around the world and I believe I can do this through medicine.”