Henry

Henry
Boston Latin High School
Boston, MA

Mentors:
Joshua Bittker
Director, Lead Discovery

Jennifer Beaudoin
Research Associate III

Jingqiang Wei
Research Chemist II

Christina Scherer
Director, Anti-infectives Discovery

Henry has always had an interest in the relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. In high school he began studying biology, chemistry, and physics to further understand the natural phenomena in the world around him. By spending a summer at the Broad Institute, he hoped to see realistic, practical applications of the scientific knowledge he was learning in high school.

Henry’s first research project involved synthesizing chemical analogs of a lead compound to identify potential drug candidates to cure malaria. He was able to acquire knowledge related to organic chemistry and develop skills in proper laboratory technique and procedure. His second project involved statistical analysis of assays to eliminate toxic compounds from the chemical library that were common throughout the assays. Henry was able to learn more about how chemical structure affects toxicity and how statistical analysis can be performed on large sets of biological data. “In the science classroom, I learn by studying; at the Broad, I learn by doing. Research at the Broad is not the typical high school laboratory experiment that always works; sometimes it fails and you don't know why — but discovering why is the fun in science,” said Henry.