Dreher High School senior receives $2,000 award for stroke research

A Dreher High School student is receiving a national award for his research into patients who have had strokes, the school district said in a release.

Anthony Androulakis was one of 300 high school seniors from throughout the country who were named scholars in The Society for Science and the Public’s 78th Regeneron Science Talent Search.

Androulakis’s research consisted of playing a melody for stroke patients and having them sing back the melody. He examined brain scans of the patients and compared them, using a computer program he wrote, to the recordings of the patients singing to see if there was a relationship between missed musical notes and the brain damage shown in the scan, according to the release.

Androulakis will receive $2,000 for being named in the top 300. If he is named among the top 40, he will compete in Washington, D.C. for the final judging, where the top award is $250,000, the release said. The winner will be selected in March.

Dreher High School will also receive $2,000 to invest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs, according to the release.