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03/04/05
Leonna Heuring

Chelsea Grigery
SIKESTON -- Around school Chelsea Grigery may be affectionately known as the ``tick chick,'' but in the world of science, she's making an even bigger name for herself.

The 18-year-old senior at Sikeston High School has been accepted for publication later this year in Missouri Medicine: The Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association.

``She's 18 years old has authored an original scientific study, and it's going to be published in a peer-reviewed, indexed professional medical journal -- while she's still in high school,'' said Grigery's mentor, Dr. Ed Masters of Sikeston. ...

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'Tick chick' authors article for Misouri medical journal
03/04/05
Leonna Heuring

SIKESTON - Around school Chelsea Grigery may be
affectionately known as the "tick chick," but in the world of science, she's
making an even bigger name for herself.

The 18-year-old senior at Sikeston High School has been
accepted for publication later this year in Missouri Medicine: The Journal
of the Missouri State Medical Association.

"She's 18 years old has authored an original scientific
study, and it's going to be published in a peer-reviewed, indexed
professional medical journal - while she's still in high school," said
Grigery's mentor, Dr. Ed Masters of Sikeston.

Masters called the acceptance of Grigery's publication a
once-in-a-century event since "Missouri Medicine" has been around for 100
years, and Grigery is the youngest author to ever be published in the
journal.

"She has an incredibly inquisitive mind and also has the
ability to think outside the box and she's a problem-solver," Masters said
about Grigery. "I've had bright students who can regurgitate every fact ever
read, but they're not problem-solvers, and that, in my opinion, is why she's
special."

Last month at her school's science fair Grigery took home
the grand champion prize for her project, which is the same one featured in
Missouri Medicine. The win advanced her to the Southeast Missouri Regional
Science Fair. If she's successful there, Grigery will move on to the Intel
International Science and Engineering Fair.

Grigery placed third at the ISEF last year for her project
about what attracts ticks.

Keeping the focus on ticks, Grigery returned this year
with a project no scientist has ever researched: a study exploring the
killing factor of blood from mice and Eastern Fence Lizards on Lyme disease
and Lyme-like illness. There's no denying this young woman knows what she's
talking about either. She can use the big scientific words like spirochetes
and Borrelia burgdorferi (another name for Lyme disease), but she can also
break the scientific jargon into laymen's terms.

"We have just found out within the past few years there
are supposedly different spirochetes of Lyme disease. Here in Missouri, many
scientists believe that there is a different spirochete (bacteria) that
causes a disease very similar to Lyme disease. This disease is a Lyme-like
illness, spread by the bacteria Borrelia lonestari. This disease is believed
to be transmitted by the lone star tick," Grigery explained.

Masters opened the door for Grigery's research through a
contact at the University of Georgia, where Dr. Susan Little's laboratory
was the first to discover how to culturally grow the Borrelia lonestari
spirochetes, Grigery said.

For three days in December, Grigery, her mother and
Masters were in Atlanta, Ga., at the university, where Grigery was granted
access to the equipment and lab to conduct her research.

Grigery's idea for the project stemmed from information
she learned during the international competition last year. Grigery was
chosen to present her project to a panel of special judges. After the
presentation, a member of the audience suggested Grigery should further
explore the research completed by Dr. Robert Lane at the University of
Berkeley, California.

"Dr. Robert Lane said the reason why California has a low
incidence of Lyme disease is because young ticks will feed primarily on the
Western Fence Lizard. When the lizard's blood travels through the tick's
body, it rids the tick of the disease," Grigery explained.

Missouri is home to the Eastern Fence Lizard, and also in
Missouri, the incidence for real Lyme disease is also minimal, Grigery
pointed out.

To conduct her experiment, Grigery used both Eastern Fence
Lizard blood and mouse blood, testing them against Lyme disease and
Lyme-like illness. The mouse blood was used to represent mammals, which are
what adult ticks typically feed on, she explained.

Then at different time intervals, Grigery examined samples
under a microscope to see if any bacteria causing either disease were
present.

With Lyme-like illness, officially called STARI (Southern
tick-associated rash illness), Grigery found the mouse and lizard blood
killed the disease. With real Lyme disease, the lizard blood killed the
disease, but the mouse blood did not.

"This conclusion is very significant for several reasons,"
Grigery said. "First, the deer tick, which primarily feeds on lizards during
its early years, is the main transmitter of true Lyme disease. The results
would suggest that Missouri has a low incidence of true Lyme disease because
the deer ticks feed on lizards which kill Lyme disease spirochetes.

"Secondly, because the mouse blood did not kill the Lyme
disease spirochetes, the mouse is a competent host for the disease. In other
words, people could consider focusing on limiting the mouse population in
their areas instead of eliminating ticks (which is difficult) in order to
reduce the chances of contracting true Lyme disease."

Thirdly, the lone star tick is thought to be the primary
source of Lyme-like illness, Grigery said.

"Because this study shows that Lyme-like illness was
killed by mouse blood, my project further supports other publications that
state the lone star tick does not feed on mice," Grigery said.
"Identification of the specific element in the blood of the lizard and the
mouse that apparently kills the diseases could possibly be instrumented in
developing a cure."

By January Grigery finished writing her findings and was
ready to submit them for publication. When she found out she succeeded,
Grigery said she and her mother were ecstatic.

Grigery wants to pursue a degree in pediatric medicine and
plans to continue her work wherever she attends college.

Although she enjoys it, science isn't the only aspect of
Grigery's life. She participates in several extracurricular activities and
it's a wonder the teenager has time for a social life.

"I feel like I've kind of established a reputation,"
Grigery said. "If I hadn't done a project, everyone would have asked why."

And truth be told, Grigery enjoys both the win and the
pressure, she said.

"You have to make a name for yourself," Grigery said. "You
always have that one thing that distinguishes yourself from others. And this
is my deal."

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