Four Students Achieve Milestone in DNA Research

Four Eastport-South Manor students – Claire Rubino, Kayleigh Tedesco, Deysi Velasquez-Robles and Evangeline Wallace – have been published to GenBank, the National Institutes of Health genetic sequence database which includes all publicly available DNA sequences. GenBank is part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, which comprises the DNA DataBank of Japan, the European Nucleotide Archive, and GenBank at The National Center for Biotechnology Information. It is designed to provide and encourage access within the scientific community to the most up-to-date and comprehensive DNA sequence information.

Claire, Kayleigh, Deysi and Evangeline conducted a DNA extraction and DNA barcode analysis of several freshwater macroinvertebrate species from the Peconic River in the fall 2025. They presented their work at the 2026 Barcode Long Island Symposium at Cold Spring Harbor. Most notably, these four young scientists were only in ninth grade when they conducted this experimental analysis.

Four of their samples yielded novel DNA sequences that have not been previously identified and can be used by the global scientific community for future work. The District congratulates these four young women in science on this incredible achievement and the lasting impact their research will have on the scientific community.