Research conducted by Great Neck South High School seniors Arnav Pemmaraju and Sean Sodhi was recently presented at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC 2025), a global meeting that convenes leading cancer researchers, clinicians, and innovators from around the world. Arnav and Sean conducted their research through the South High Science Research Program.

Their project, “OxyDock: Optimizing Cancer-Targeted Therapy Through Oxygen-Responsive Molecular Docking,” addresses critical challenges in drug discovery for cancer treatment. The students developed a computational model that not only improves accuracy but also outperformed past professional approaches—despite being built at the high school level.

“Being invited to present at such a prestigious conference is an incredible honor,” said Arnav and Sean. “It proves that even a project made by two high schoolers can reach recognition on a global scale. We hope our work inspires other students in Great Neck to make an impact outside the classroom.”

The students also reflected on a defining moment in their journey: “We were speaking with a professor who immediately exclaimed that he was constantly plagued by the very challenges OxyDock was built to solve. That moment, and seeing our model outperform previous professional approaches, gave us the confidence that research at the high-school level can truly spark change.”

Their findings were presented at the WCLC both in-person and through a recorded poster presentation, joining researchers from across the globe. The pair said they were most excited to share OxyDock with international scientists and to learn from their perspectives; they hope to collaborate with professors at the highest level in order to continuously improve their project.

The World Conference on Lung Cancer was held in Barcelona, Spain, from September 8–11, 2025. It is recognized as the largest international meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies.