Sravya likes to play the trombone, swim, dance, and read. She is also interested in photography. Sravya's sixth and seventh grade science teacher, Elaine McCall Taylor, is her mentor because she "set very high standards and gave me confidence." Sravya hopes to become a biotechnology specialist like her parents.
After her family's orange tree died during a freeze, Sravya wondered if plants could be made resistant to cold. Her father, a plant virologist, and another scientist encouraged her to explore a gene that slows cell death in plants.
During the first two years of the project, Sravya learned how to insert the gene Bcl-xl into a bacterium that infects plants. This year, she treated citrus stems and tomato seedlings with the bacterium, hoping the plants would take up the gene. She then tested plant tissue samples via DNA amplification, finding that they were indeed transgenic—they had incorporated the new gene. These plants are now bearing fruit, and Sravya plans to test them for cold tolerance this winter. "It is a learning process that never ends," she says.
