Santiago Lumbreras, a sophomore at Granbury High School, placed first at the Texas Science and Engineering Fair at Texas A&M last weekend. Santiago was in the Senior Division of the Translational Medical Sciences category with his project titled, "Neuroprotective Effects of Nutraceutical Supplementation for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy." His work represents the top 20 science research projects in the state of Texas. As a part of his award, Santiago was invited to the Governor's Science and Technology camp that will be held at Southern Methodist University this summer. He also advanced to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair where he will represent Texas and the United States among other young scientists and engineers from 80 countries. This will take place May 10-16 in Dayton, Ohio.
Santiago expanded on his research from last year where he worked with Non-Newtonian fluids to make football helmets safer for players. While he was successful in alleviating the force of a hit to the head, he realized that no matter the safety additions, repetitive hits to the head slowly lead to traumatic brain injuries that are not reversible. This year he refocused his research to study how natural supplements protect brain tissue against traumatic brain injuries, specifically CTE.
Attending the competition were Laney Matthews, Shanice Gibson, Jamie Atcheson, Santiago Lumbreras, and Paola Lumbreras (representing Acton Middle School).