66th Annual STS (2006-2007)
Finalists
Kathryn Blair Friedman

NEW YORK
Kathryn Blair Friedman, 18, of New York, entered the Intel Science Talent Search with a medicine and health project that may help physicians diagnose peanut allergies more accurately. Katie has outgrown her own peanut allergy but is still sesame allergic. Knowing that peanuts are a leading cause of anaphylactic shock and that many people who are allergic to peanuts react similarly to sesame, Katie used microarray immunoassays and protein fraction separation to investigate the causes of allergic antibody cross-reactivity between peanuts and sesame. Her results suggest that primary responsibility for the allergic antibody cross-reactivity is the order of the amino acids in the peanut proteins, rather than the shape of the proteins. She believes antibody binding tests may lead to more accurate peanut allergy diagnoses. Katie is the daughter of Robert Friedman and Dr. Elissa Gretz-Friedman and will attend Williams College before entering medical school. At The Chapin School, Katie participates on the varsity soccer, tennis and lacrosse teams, and teaches tennis and piano. In her spare time, she is a tournament-level tennis player and a long-time volunteer at Mount Sinai Hospital.