Intrigued by the Disease

In 6th grade, Megan got intrigued by multiple sclerosis (MS), the unpredictable and chronic disease that attacks the myelin sheaths surrounding nerves of the brain and spinal cord, causing a myriad of symptoms from muscle weakness, to pain, to problems with coordination and speech. In 8th grade she started mapping the disease's incidence in her home state of New Jersey. Now, at age 18, she's already spent five years performing geostatistical analysis of MS and several other diseases, including ALS, Lyme disease, and breast cancer.

With her research, Megan has earned first place and a $50,000 scholarship in the College Board's Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition, 7th place in the Intel Science Talent Search, and has been featured in USA Today's 2007 All-USA High School Academic Team

In the process, she has compiled the most comprehensive database of U.S. Lyme disease incidence available (which she is making available to other researchers), and has come to two startling and important conclusions. The first, MS and ALS incidence overlap geographically; the second, MS and Lyme incidence overlap as well.

What does this mean? The cause of MS, estimated to affect more than 2.5 million people worldwide, is currently hypothesized to be an unidentified viral infection that prompts a person's immune system to mistakenly attack their own neurons. Megan's research implicates a bacterial or environmental agent carried by a zoonotic host such as ticks or birds instead.

Last summer, under the tutelage of Dr. Angela Kohler, at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, she studied the chemical structures of compounds that bind uniquely with neuregulin, a protein that appears to play a role in many of the diseases that her maps had showed to be geographically correlated. She has identified five candidate ligands (compounds that bind to the target protein) for neuregulin to study for therapeutic or explanatory potential.

Here's Cogito's Q & A with Megan

What was your inspiration for beginning and pursuing your whole project?

This is a strange story.  I have always been interested in neuroscience, as the brain is still in many ways uncharted territory.  When I was in the sixth grade, my curiosity led me to ask my parents for a neuroscience textbook for Christmas.  My parents thought this was a strange request, but soon they bought me the book.  I first read about MS in this neuroscience text.  I had read about several other diseases, but it appeared that the least was known about MS.  Studying the disease seemed like an interesting scientific endeavor.  I started off by mapping the distribution of the disease.  Soon, I delved into the biochemical realm as well in order to explore MS on a molecular level.  The CTY Neuroscience course provided me my first real glimpse of neuroscience research.  Seeing how professional scientists explored diseases inspired me to do some exploring of my own.

Did you run into any problems during your project, and how did you deal with them?

Every research project has its obstacles.  One of my main obstacles has been data collection.  It is often very difficult to find data that are free and not plagued by privacy restrictions.  Often some portion of public health data is not made available due to reasons of confidentiality.  I am still searching for new sources of data.  Of course, deciding which spatial statistical techniques to use was also challenging.  Finally, because this work involves many fields (epidemiology, spatial statistics, biochemistry, immunology, etc.), I had to acquire a basic knowledge of these different areas.  Whenever I had a question, I would either go to the library and read as much about the field related to that question or I would email a researcher in that field.  Just last week, I checked out three immunology textbooks.  I am indeed still learning, and I hope I always will be.

Why were you asked to present to the biomedical caucus?

During the Intel STS competition, two students were selected to present to the caucus.  I am not sure exactly how Carol Yoon Joo Suh (fellow presenter and ISTS winner) and I were selected, but I believe the Science Service staff members were involved.

Carol and Megan fielding questions. Credit: Charles Votaw Photography

What was presenting like?

It was a wonderful experience.  During the trip, I was able to see the inner workings of our nation's capital and got the opportunity to present directly to the lawmakers, themselves.  It was exciting being so close to the center of change in our country.  The trip, for me, also reinforced the adage: Of those to whom much is given, much is required.  Senior researchers have gone out of their way to help me and I have been given many opportunities.  I feel my role now is both that of scientist and spokesperson for science education.

Is there anything about presenting that surprised you?

The congresspeople were very approachable.  I was humbled by all their kind words.  One congressman from Carol's home state of California mentioned that he had triplets.  He said he hopes that Carol and I build a better world for his children. 

Do you have a sense of whether you had an influence on Congressional happenings?

Dr. Herschbach, the Nobel Laureate and Harvard University professor who introduced Carol and me, told me that the caucus is considering asking students back every year to present.  He also suggested that Carol and I return when we are seniors in college or in grad school so that the caucus can follow our careers.

Dr. Herschbach introducing the young scientists. Credit: Charles Votaw Photography

I've read you quoted as saying you think that research currently is not goal-oriented enough.  Can you tell me more about that?

I discussed this phenomenon with Dr. Herschbach. Often Ph.D. students and senior researchers do not have the liberty that high school students do to ask big questions.  Researching "big questions" is risky, because results are not guaranteed, even though the implications of those results could be great.  I have been using epidemiology to drive biochemistry.  In other words, I have been using epidemiology to formulate hypotheses about the biochemical mechanisms of diseases.  I feel research should not be done for the sole purpose of generating new information, but for the purpose of answering certain questions.

Work that is not goal-oriented, I feel, falls under the category of "incrementalism."  Ph.D. students and senior researchers often cannot afford to take on a year-long or decade-long project that does not guarantee results. High school students and young researchers have this liberty.

One question that I feel is important to ask is: Is there a Moore 's Law equivalent for medicine? According to Wikipedia's Moore's Law entry, Moore predicted that "the number of transistors on an integrated circuit for minimum component cost doubles every 24 months." We medical researchers should use a goal-oriented approach to hold ourselves to a Moore 's Law equivalent.

Can you say more about your thoughts on how Moore 's Law could be applied to health research?

When I say there should be a Moore's Law equivalent for health research, I mean there should be some predictive model for medical advancement, and we medical researchers should hold ourselves to this model.  There are already several similar paradigms in medicine.  For instance, the inventor of microarray analysis Mark Schena, has said that he believes microarray analysis can be used to find treatments or cures for every human disease by 2050.  This is very ambitious, but I think Schena's dream for a better future can be realized if we aim for that end.  This goes back to the idea of goal-oriented research and asking big questions with big implications.  Serendipity will always have its place in science.  However, we should have some long-term goal in mind when we do medical research, because people's lives are literally hanging in the balance.

On a more philosophical note, I feel tackling bigger problems is more rewarding. Teddy Roosevelt said, "Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." Before I start a project, I try to ask myself, "Is this work worth doing?" If the answer is "yes", almost always the research question is worth answering.

Can you tell me more about what you think kids need in terms of science heroes?

"Megan is a fantastic girl and I am not surprised she is having such accolades already." Allison Posey, Megan's CTY Summer Programs Neuroscience Instructor, who remembers Megan asking her about a link between MS and Lyme Disease during their class. She told Megan to follow her instinct and investigate.

I think kids today do not get enough exposure to science. You would be hard-pressed to find any mention of individual scientists in the general media.  Students should know about great researchers like Dr. Herschbach. He is an inspiration to me.  Students should know about the personal stories behind the impressive careers of our greatest scientists.

One of my heroes is Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine. Just fifty years ago, polio was an epidemic. Parents were terrified for their children, and a huge number of kids were crippled or lost their lives.  I graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago, and during the ceremony I could not help but think, "If it were not for Jonas Salk, several of these students - we do not know which ones - would not be here today."  The work of Jonas Salk and other researchers has had a large effect on my suburban community.  Anyone who saves a single life is hero; scientists can save thousands or millions of lives.

Were you really saying to someone after your presentation to the biomedical caucus that you did most of your geostatistical research in your living room?

Yes. I do my geostatistical research from a computer in my living room.  I use ESRI software to map the distributions of diseases and SPSS to do the statistical analyses.  I hope more students realize that you don't need a huge number of resources in order to make a contribution in science.

The following description of MS is taken from my website: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common primary neurological disorder among young adults, according to Warren et. al. Researcher Stephen Waxman calls it “the archetypical inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system.” Demyelination is the degradation of the fatty myelin sheath surrounding axons. This myelin sheath is essential for the transmission of axon potentials, the mechanism by which neurons communicate. MS is widely considered to be an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system for some reason attacks the myelin sheath.

For more detailed information, students can visit the following link: http://www.msgeographics.com/index_files/Page897.htm

MS appears to be a cocktail of environmental and genetic factors. Certain ethnic groups, especially Scandinavians, are more susceptible than others. However, some very interesting migration studies have revealed that people with MS are most likely exposed to an environmental trigger around age 13. Symptoms do not usually manifest until an individuals 20's or 30's. Symptoms include slurred speech, partial paralysis, and fatigue. Patients are sometimes confined to a wheelchair.

Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by the spirochetal bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Most cases of Lyme are easily treated by several weeks of antibiotics, but in 10% of cases, symptoms persist and develop into a chronic condition termed "Lyme arthritis."

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease associated with cell death in the brain and spinal cord. Demyelination can occur secondary to cell death. Symptoms of ALS include slurred speech and reduced motor coordination. Patients are often confined to a wheelchair, unable to move or speak. Those afflicted with ALS live an average of five years after diagnosis, so this is a very serious condition. Physicist Stephen Hawking suffers from ALS, as did Lou Gehrig, after whom the disease is commonly named. For more information, see: http://www.alsa.org/als/what.cfm?CFID=4467475&CFTOKEN=99552805

I feel the best place to start would be to develop a hypothesis or a question you want answered. Before I began researching MS, I read through "the literature". Essentially, I went to pubmed.org and searched for articles on MS. This gave me a sense of the current research being done and questions being asked. Once you develop a hypothesis, you could contact researchers in that field and ask if they would be willing to let you test that hypothesis. I found I was able to test many of my hypotheses just from home.

However, getting access to a lab can be very difficult, especially for people under 18. In addition, very few graduate students have their own projects, let alone high school students. Don't be discouraged. If you are unable to get access to a lab, you can visit the links page on my site and map the distributions of Alzheimer's disease or certain cancers. You can answer some very important questions by investigating where a disease is found. Good luck.

Learn More about Megan's Research

• GIS Monitor published an article about Megan that offers a very good introduction to her research, GIS for Public Health.


• Visit Multiple Sclerosis Geographics, Megan's excellent, user-friendly site that explains not only her research but the statistical and geographical analyses she used.


• For more detail, read Megan's research paper, A Geostatistical Analysis of Possible Spirochetal Involvement in Multiple Sclerosis and Other Related Diseases (2006).