Way to Go!: Allison Perry

Allison Perry spent the summer focusing her mind on the brain.

Perry, a junior at The Wheatley School in Old Westbury, was among 44 high schoolers worldwide to participate in SciTech 2011, a three-week international science and technology research camp hosted by Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. The program allows teens to do projects alongside Israeli researchers.

In Israel, Perry and a student from New Jersey worked on an effort to determine the best conditions for neural cell growth by using two-photon microscopes and microscopic cameras to study the brains of rat embryos and develop three-dimensional, humanlike neural networks.

"Some members of my family have died from, or are suffering from, neuro-generative diseases, which is where much of my motivation has come from," said Perry, 16. "Our results led us to conclude certain conditions or cell densities are better for cell growth and survival."

At school, Perry is class treasurer, president of the Cancer Awareness Research and Education Club, and a member of the National Spanish Honor Society. She is on the varsity girls dance team and teaches dance to kids at a local studio.