Michael is a member of the science and math club. He also plays the trumpet and likes to run cross-country and swim. He plans to enter the field of medical research. "I want to explore the mysteries of the human body and to discover possible cures for fatal genetic diseases," says Michael.
Michael's science hero is Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine and inspired Michael's interest in science.
Having heard a lot about osteoporosis, Michael was interested in what caused bone loss. In his initial research, he learned that osteoporosis strikes older women most often and may be caused by decreasing levels of the estrogen hormone as women near menopause. He also learned that the production of Interleukin-1 (IL-1) stimulated IL-6 production, resulting in the release of destructive enzymes that can cause bone loss. This led Michael to develop an experiment to test whether an increase in estrogen would block the sequence of events that lead to bone loss.
Working in the laboratory of a bone biology expert at the University of Pittsburgh, Michael used mouse osteoblasts (bone cells) ordered from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) as the testing model and designed 16 experimental groups. For each test group, he added different concentrations of IL-1 and estrogen. After 24 hours, Michael measured the amount of IL-6 in each group of cells. His results showed that IL-1 increased the amount of IL-6 produced and that estrogen decreased the amount of IL-6. This reduction of IL-6 production by estrogen proved Michael's hypothesis that estrogen reduces bone loss and, therefore, that estrogen therapy may be an effective method for preventing osteoporosis.
