The Neurobiology of Suicide: Claudin-5 Is a Novel Biomarker of Suicide Pathogenesis
Natasha Kulviwat · Jericho, New York
Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations ($50,000) · Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair · 2023
A search for biological markers associated with suicide, using de-identified post-mortem brain tissue from 20 individuals and measuring levels of the cytokine and claudin-5 proteins.
Neuroinflammation markers and claudin-5 were both elevated in the brains of suicide cases relative to comparison tissue.
Human tissue work carries an approval and ethics burden most student projects never take on, and it is the reason the finding is about people rather than a model system. Two proteins measured rather than one gives the result internal corroboration.
- De-identified post-mortem tissue analysis
- Protein quantification of claudin-5 and cytokines
- Case-comparison design
- Institutional ethics approval
- Ethically demanding work needs the paperwork started months early — approval time is project time
- De-identified archival tissue is a real route into human research for a student, through an institutional collaboration
- Measuring two related markers instead of one turns a single observation into a pattern
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