Sabrina sings in the Southwest Florida Youth Choir and volunteers at nursing homes. She hopes "to research prevention and cure of diseases" as a medical researcher someday.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in the United States, affecting some 27 million people. Sabrina learned about factors that induce the growth of new blood vessels in the eye, the direct cause of AMD. She hypothesized that blocking these growth factors with antibodies would prevent AMD-like symptoms in mice.
Sabrina became certified in handling laboratory animals and worked in a university laboratory involved in this area of research. To test her hypothesis, the mice with an induced AMD-like condition were given antibodies to either growth factor SDF1 or CD144. The control animals received no antibodies. The animals receiving the antibodies showed significantly fewer stem cells and new blood vessels, supporting Sabrina's hypothesis.
