An eighth-grade student from Pennsylvania has earned a place among the top 30 middle school researchers in the United States after developing a potential new method for delivering medicines used to treat Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).
Sai Sri Valli Mogilineedi, a student at Mountain View Middle School in Mechanicsburg, was named a national finalist in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge on September 16, 2026. The competition, organised by the non-profit Society for Science, is among the major US STEM competitions for middle school students.