Sheldon High School
BIOTECH ACADEMY
A Distinguished California Partnership Academy
Recognition
Congratulations to these students for their outstanding achievement.
Internships with California Institute for Regenerative Cures at UC Davis Medical Center
Internships with California Institute for Regenerative Cures at UC Davis Medical Center. In 2025, of the 10 available research positions offered by the California Institute for Regenerative Cures at UC Davis Medical Center, 3 fellowships were offered to Sheldon Biotech students!! This is an extremely competitive and valuable experience. Each student will be paired up with a leading stem cell researcher to design and carry out their own experiment. In addition to an incredible research opportunity, each student will receive up to $4000 in scholarship money. Please congratulate the following! Their hard work and dedication to success is remarkable!
SPARK 2023
Internees:​​​
- Ryan Tran (2024)
- Shaylyn Carthen (2024)
- Muhammad Riaz (2023)
- Venicia Barron (2025)
- Marissa Romero (2025)
- Parisha Nigah (2025)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Internees:​​​
- Yuvraj Gill (2024)
- Bahar Zahir (2024)​
- Kelly Loi (2025)
- Chigozie Monye (2025)
SPARK 2024
SPARK 2025
Internees:​​​​​
- Dolly Ho (2025)
- Andisha Zahir (2026)
- Frozan Shaheen (2026)​
Teen Biotech Challenge
Sheldon Biotech students participated in an online poster competition as part of the Teen Biotech Challenge at UC Davis, which invites high school students from across the country to demonstrate their research skills, scientific communication abilities, and creativity. Students submit a scientific poster for judging in one of three categories: Agriculture and Food Science (including agricultural biotechnology, crop and livestock breeding, and cellular agriculture), Human and Animal Health (such as biopharma and drug discovery, stem cells and regenerative medicine, personal genomics, and biomedical engineering), and Platform Tools and Technologies (featuring computational biology, genetic engineering, industrial biomanufacturing, and synthetic biology).
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TBC Awardees 2025
Agricultural Biotechnology & Food Systems
Senior 1st Place- Kaitlyn Sayasing “Nourish the Soil, Nurture the Future: Sustainable Farming for a Healthier Tomorrow”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)- Long Le “Gene Editing of
Plants”
Senior 3rd Place(Tie)-Melissa (Chi) Pham “Sweet Taste of Life: Genetic Engineering Vanillin”
Senior 3rd Place(Tie)-Eden Vang “Revolutionizing Agriculture with Aquaponics”
Senior Honorable Mention-Anaya Smith “Phloem Signals in Flowering Plants”
Senior Honorable Mention-Maily Vue “Powerhouse Plants: The Secret Efficiency of C4 Photosynthesis”
Biomedical Engineering & Regenerative Medicine
Senior 1st Place(Tie)-Tram Nguyen “Future of Stem Cells: The Missing Piece in Alzheimer's Treatment”
Senior 1st Place(Tie)-Amun Wedderburn “Organs-on-Chips: The Future of Drug Testing and Personalized Medicine”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Malia Ann Gomez “Artificial Wombs: A Future of Sustaining Life”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Joanne Huang "Beyond Glasses: The Future of Implantable Collamer Lenses”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Jody Su “Myoelectric Prostheses: Merging Man and Machine”
Senior 3rd Place(Tie)-Andrew Le “The Future of Bones: 3D Printing in Orthopedics”
Senior Honorable Mention-Harnoor Jhajj “Nano-Printed Blood Vessels: The Key to 3D-Printed Organs and Lifesaving Transplants”
Senior Honorable Mention-Jacob Le “The Rise of Brain Computer Interfaces”
Senior Honorable Mention-Quynth Le “Cryonic: Escaping Death”
Senior Honorable Mention-Yash Mahi “3D Bioprinter: Printing Organs to Save Lives”
Senior Honorable Mention-Jaisleen Malhi “Synthetic Lifeline: The Future of Lab-Grown Blood & Artificial Transfusions”
Senior Honorable Mention-Ammaar Mustafa “Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI); New Possibilities for the Paralyzed”
Senior Honorable Mention-Calista Pham “Building a Better Body, 3D Printed Organs”
Personalized Medicine & Gene Therapies
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Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Zion Cooper “Ocular Gene Therapy”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Ciereann Xiong “Uncommon but Unforgotten: Advancing Orphan Drug Development for Rare Diseases”
Senior Honorable Mention-Tracy Ho “Pharmacogenomics: Tailoring Drug Therapy through Biotech Innovations”
Senior Honorable Mention-Hervy Jazlyn Pichay “Precision Medicine: Going Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Treatment”
Senior Honorable Mention-Ethan Sam “Reprogramming Cancer Cells: The Potential to Restore Tumors to Healthy Tissue”
Senior Honorable Mention-Sage Vang “A Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment”
Environmental Biotechnology
Senior 1st Place-Di Tu Chuong “Turning the Tides: A Cleaner Ocean with Plastic-Eating Bacteria”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Sudeeksha Ponnuru “Turning the Tide on Excess Carbon: Can Genetically Modified Algae Make a Difference?”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Mustafa Rashha “Biotechnological Innovations of Carbon Capture Systems”
Senior 3rd Place(Tie)-Chidiebube Igbokwe “The Sunflower Solution: Advancing Phytoremediation for Toxic Soil Cleanup”
Senior Honorable Mention-Kiet Back “Bioremediation – Pathway to Safe Ecosystems”
Senior Honorable Mention-Linh Dang “BioBusters: Harnessing Bacteria to Fight Plastic Waste”
Senior Honorable Mention-Rupali Dosnjh “From Waste to Sustainable Energy: Microbial Fuel Cells and the Future”
Senior Honorable Mention-Anna Duong “PHA: The Bioplastic Material Made by Bacteria Utilized for a More Sustainable Way”
Senior Honorable Mention-Howie Ho “Water We Doing? Provide Clean Drinking Water Through Water Desalination”
Senior Honorable Mention-Romeo Thao “Rooting for the Earth: Bioengineering Plants to Combat Global Warming”
Senior Honorable Mention-Marshelle Rose Yasay “Microbial Engineering: Harnessing Microbes to Combat Climate Change”
Diagnostics, Drugs, Vaccines, & Treatments
Senior 1st Place(Tie)-Thyda Sokunn “Breaking Barriers: Exploring New Horizons in Post-Breast Cancer Treatment”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Ava Allen "Hope, Healing, and Strength: Empowering Every Step in Ovarian Cancer Care"
Senior 3rd Place(Tie)-Josh Ireland “The Future of Pharmacy: 3D Printing Personalized Medications”
Senior Honorable Mention-Keahna Chao “Virtual Reality for Pain Management: A High-Tech Alternative to Traditional Anesthetics”
Senior Honorable Mention-Chidinma Igbokwe “Planting the Seeds of Immunity: Edible Vaccines and Biotechnology”
Senior Honorable Mention-Kaylee Tran “"Cheerio!" - Finally Saying Goodbye to Celiac Disease?”
Nanotech, Biomaterials, & Industrial Biotech
Senior 1st Place(Tie)-Krystal Sin “Revolutionizing the World with Nanoparticles and Tea”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Gilianne Agar “Getting to the Point with Nanodiagnostic Point of-Care Systems”
Senior 2nd Place(Tie)-Kaitlyn Yang “Earth’s Shield: Biodegradable Band-Aids”
Senior Honorable Mention-Shiying Pei “Nanorobotics in Medicine”
Cellular Agriculture
Senior 1st Place-Janice Tao “Cultivated Meat: Biotech’s Bite of the Future”
Senior Honorable Mention-Miley Zhang “Using Biotech to Improve the Lives of Livestock Animals: How We Can Help Them”
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Computational Biology & Genomics
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Senior 2nd Place-Ashleen Maharaj “Bringing Back the Extinct Using CRISPR and Gene Cloning”
Senior Honorable Mention-Donny Bui “The Future of Healthcare: AI in Personalized Medicine”
Senior Honorable Mention-Heidy Feng “Discover (GenBank)”
Congress of Future Medical Leaders
The Congress of Future Medical Leaders provides students who want to go into medical sciences, in their future, an opportunity to be recognized. The Congress of Future Medical Leaders was created by the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists in order to have students adhere to their passion to pursue a career in the medical field, especially due to the fact that our country needs more physicians and medical scientists.​ For more information, click here.
Science Olympiad
Our Science Olympiad team placed second at Regionals. The team is comprised of 15 members. The top three finishes this year were in the topics of Anatomy and Physiology, Ornithology, and a tie between Forensics and Write it CAD it.
Sacramento STEM Fair
Congratulations to the CCL team of Aishleen, Sukhman, Amanpreet, and Parneet for winning the Biology and Health Science category at the Sacramento STEM science fair. The Biotech Academy is so proud of you!! Good luck at the state finals.
JAX Scholarship Program
The JAX Scholarship Program provides three awardees $10,000 scholarships to students who aim to pursue careers in research or medicine. Alumni, Monserath Mendoza received the scholarship will use the scholarship towards her education at the University of California, Davis. For additional information, click here.