62nd Annual STS (2002-2003)
Finalists
Jamie Elyce Rubin

FLORIDA
Jamie Elyce Rubin, 16, of Fort Myers, designed a therapeutic agent that could potentially be used in treating infections caused by the fungus Candida albicans for her biochemistry project submitted to the Intel Science Talent Search. Jamie was inspired by her volunteer work at Hope Hospice, where many patients suffer from these infections, including candidiasis, which can be life-threatening to anyone with a compromised immune system. At the University of Florida's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Lab, Jamie focused on a family of enzymes known as the secreted aspartic proteinases (Saps) which has been identified as a key virulence factor of pathogenic Candida. A major challenge was to combinatorially design an inhibitor that is strongly accepted by Saps, but not by similar native human enzymes. Jamie believes she found an answer in an amino acid sequence that can allow Saps to be effectively targeted. Jamie has earned perfect SAT scores and is first in her class of 51 at the Canterbury School, where she runs cross-country, plays piano and handbells and is active in theater. The daughter of Dr. Michael and Felinda Rubin, she hopes to study at Harvard.