Farooq Ansari

At the end of sophomore year, Farooq participated in the California State Summer School for Math and Science (COSMOS) program at UC Irvine, where he studied genetics and bioinformatics. During the program, he designed a project to study differential gene expression in various species of Steinernema nematodes with significant implications for the agricultural industry. During 11th and 12th grade, Farooq continued working at UC Irvine with Professor Ali Mortazavi and a PhD student to conduct further research on gene and protein expression in C. elegans and Steinernema using methods such as RNAseq and DNAse-seq.

Following his junior year, Farooq attended the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Research (SIMR) Program, where he interned at the Khatri Lab within Stanford Medical School. There, he utilized large human autopsy datasets consisting of RNAseq data from 9,000 organs from over 400 donors to systematically research the correlation between chemokine gene expression and immune cell proportion in each organ. Based on his bioinformatics research, he proposed further studies to test the efficacy of a currently available drug, Plerixafor, as a potential treatment for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

Besides conducting scientific research, Farooq was involved in a host of extracurricular activities at Sage Hill. He was the captain of the school’s Mock Trial and Academic Decathlon teams, where he won numerous 1st place individual awards. Additionally, Farooq launched a service-based club his freshman year named Solving the Summer Learning Gap. As the founder and president of this club, he reached out to city councils and school districts throughout Orange County and Los Angeles about the importance of summer education, wrote letters to debate societies, and led “Math and Basketball” summer and winter programs for middleschool students at Boys and Girls Clubs. In recognition for his efforts, Farooq was recognized by the editors of USA Today in its “I am an American” print and online feature. His efforts were also featured in 92 other USA Today affiliated national and regional newspapers. This media coverage successfully raised awareness of the summer learning gap and its impact on underprivileged students across the nation.