URBANA, Ill., (WCIA) — Students and scientists are showing off their cancer research, but it’s not the generation you may be thinking. On Friday, high schoolers presented their findings on the U of I campus at the Beckman Institute, part of the “ResearcHStart” program.

It comes after applications and a summer full of preparation with grad students and other mentors.

Savindi Devmal, a Uni High senior, dedicated the past two months to studying LncRNA and its role in cancer progression.

“I go to the lab early in the morning from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. I stay in the lab, and work in the lab most of the time,” she explained. “It’s running around, doing different sorts of experiments all of the time and working with my hands a lot. I’m not really at my desk much. I really like that, personally.”

She says the summer program helped inspire her to go to medical school. She hopes to go to the Carle College of Medicine one day and bridge the gap between medicine and engineering.