Mineola honors Regeneron semifinalist and teacher; three students present senior research

The Mineola Union Free School District Board of Education on Monday recognized Jessica Carlson, a science research teacher at Mineola High School, as a 2025 Regeneron Teacher of Merit and announced senior Fatima Badula as a semifinalist in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search, then heard presentations from three students.

Why it matters: Regeneron’s Science Talent Search is one of the country’s most prominent high‑school research competitions; semifinalists receive $2,000 and $2,000 for their school’s research program. District recognition signals institutional support for student research and for teacher mentorship that contributes to college‑level science work.

Board president Margaret Ballantyne opened the recognition portion of the meeting and invited principal‑level staff to introduce honorees before the student presentations. Jessica Carlson was named a Regeneron Teacher of Merit for guiding seniors through the Regeneron application and research process; the board noted her out‑of‑hours mentorship.

Fatima Badula, a Mineola High School senior, presented her Regeneron project to the board. “My research project was titled the effect of different dosages of m kerantia on glucose levels in Drosophila melanogaster,” Badula told the board, explaining she used fruit flies as a diabetes model, induced hyperglycemia with high‑sugar media, and measured glucose via a hexokinase assay. Badula reported a one‑way ANOVA p value of 0.0025 and said the higher dose of bitter‑melon extract produced the largest reduction in measured glucose levels; she emphasized limitations including the model species and sample selection (she used only surviving flies).

Also presenting were Alicia Lynn, whose project tested plant‑based secondary metabolites (including honeysuckle and St. John’s wort) as potential efflux‑pump inhibitors to reduce antibiotic resistance in E. coli, and Jasmine Jin, who described a team project evaluating photosynthesizing marine organisms (giant kelp, cyclotella and chlorella) as a nature‑based approach to slow ocean acidification and summarized a recent student trip to South Korea where the Mineola students collaborated with Korean peers.

Alicia described two laboratory assays used to assess bacterial inhibition—lawn/blot assays and an ethidium‑bromide fluorescence assay—and said synergistic pairings of herbal extracts with ampicillin produced larger zones of inhibition and lower fluorescence values in many trials. Jasmine summarized her group’s multi‑month measurements and noted limitations tied to biomass measurements for microscopic organisms and the need to convert observed pH changes into carbon‑consumption rates.

Board members and administrators asked technical questions about methods, instrumentation and next steps. The board also discussed lab equipment limits: presenters and staff noted the district lab uses a standard spectrophotometer (spec 20) and said a microplate reader or fluorescence reader (approximate vendor quotes mentioned in the meeting: $6,000–$7,000) would reduce per‑sample reagent cost and increase throughput.

Ending: Board members praised the students and their teacher mentorship. The board thanked the students for presenting and noted the district will continue to support student research opportunities.