California seventh-grader tests potential brain-injury treatment on 350 fruit flies

Alekha GoldbergPhoto credit: Society for science When Alekha Goldberg’s older brother suffered a traumatic brain injury during a violent attack in Washington, D.C., she saw how deeply the injury changed his everyday life. He faced long-term problems with memory, thinking and brain fatigue, difficulties that affected both his work and daily routines. Rather than simply feeling helpless, the California seventh grader turned her concern into a science project that examined whether an existing medication could protect the brain after injury. Her research has now placed her among 30 finalists in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, a national middle school STEM competition organised by Society for Science and Thermo Fisher Scientific, as per their website.According to Society for Science, Alekha, a student at Peak to Peak Mountain Charter School in Pine Mountain Club, California, focused on traumatic brain injury, or TBI, and particularly on the damage that can continue after the first impact. Her project tested methylene blue, a medication she learned may have neuroprotective properties, using fruit flies as a research model. In her experiment, injured flies t...