Massachusetts teen wins $90,000 for AI program that maps protein structures

timesofindia.indiatimes.com ·2026-08-23

A 17-year-old Massachusetts teen named Jerry Xu has won $90,000 for his AI program that maps protein structures. The Regeneron Science Talent Search awarded him for his research, according to the Society for Science. Xu's project, "A Unified Protein Embedding Model With Local and Global Structural Sensitivity," aims to compare protein structures rapidly.

Proteins' structures provide essential clues about their function, but comparing them can be computationally intensive. Xu's innovative approach addresses this by converting protein structures into numerical representations while retaining key details. This allows AI systems to more efficiently find similarities between proteins, saving time and computational resources.

Xu, a student at Lexington High School, is also involved in science education, outreach, and building an AI chatbot to help residents understand their town's budget.

Written by urgent.news from Times of India's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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