While many students take a much-needed break over the summer, Sherrie Yu, a senior from Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine, followed her passion for science and spent last summer exploring cancer stem cell research as a volunteer with CHOC’s research team. In turn, this extraordinary teen was a semifinalist in the Siemens competition – the most coveted science prize awarded to high school students in the country.

Under the guidance of Dr. Calvin Li, senior scientist for the CHOC Center for Neuroscience and Stem-Cell Research, Sherrie worked on characterization of pediatric brain tumor stem cells using a polymerase chain reaction – a Nobel Prize winning technology. Her work was part of a bigger, cutting-edge research project on pediatric brain tumor stem cells, which is a collaborative effort between Dr. Li and physician William G. Loudon, MD, PhD, a neurosurgeon and the Director of the CHOC Center for Neuroscience and Stem Cell Research.

"It was a wonderful experience. I expected it to be a lot easier than I thought. It was hard work, certainly more failures than successes, a real process of ‘re-search’," Sherrie says.

As a result of her work at CHOC, Sherrie completed a research project enabling her to apply for the prestigious 2007 Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, which recognizes remarkable talent in math, science, and technology.

Throughout his career, Dr. Li has mentored many students in the lab. He enjoyed training Sherrie to do CHOC’s most advanced research.

"I was given a research opportunity when I was a teenager. I have always wanted to extend such an opportunity to motivated students. My conviction is that students are motivated to work hard for a task they find interesting, which drives them to do some work on their own initiative. Working with these talented youths reminds me of my own wonder years," Dr. Li explains.

"In fact, Sherrie has worked on interface between neuroscience, cancer and stem cell research. Her discovery shed a new light on studies of pediatric brain tumor stem cells by finding some new biomarkers in the pediatric brain tumor stem cells," Dr. Loudon says.

For Sherrie, however, the experience was greater than any prize. Volunteering at CHOC was the most rewarding of all, as she was part of a team dedicated to the latest in scientific research on the most deadly cancers afflicting children, and learned how far her potential could take her.

"Mentorship exemplifies, starts, and lives the CHOC legacy …Providing a volunteer opportunity for youths exemplifies CHOC values in the local community. However, Sherrie being a semifinalist in the national Siemens Competition, brought CHOC to a national level of recognition," said Brent Dethlefs, director of the CHOC Research Institute.

For more information about the CHOC Center for Neuroscience and Stem Cell Research, please call 714-516-4341.

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