Most 16-year-olds are focused on learning to drive or keeping up with homework. But Shireen Arora, now a sophomore at BASIS Chandler, spent her time raising more than 3,000 fruit flies in her mother’s office—an unconventional, yet groundbreaking effort that could reshape how we think about Alzheimer’s treatment.
Arora, a lifelong Chandler resident, began volunteering at Parkland Memory Care four years ago, spending time with residents and learning about their day-to-day life. That work opened her eyes to the emotional and financial burden of Alzheimer’s disease.
“A lot of these treatments are really expensive, costing over $20,000 a year,” she says. “I was really inspired to make a novel, affordable treatment.”
Her search led her to Ashwagandha, an Ayurvedic plant extract known for reducing stress and inflammation—two underlying factors in Alzheimer’s pathology.
“You can get it at a grocery store for about $10–$20,” she says. “I wanted something that was truly accessible, especially for rural populations that may not have access to these types of resources.”
Upon starting this project, Arora was under the age of 16 and only a freshman in high school. With no access to a research lab due to age requirements, Arora emailed more than 60 professors looking for assistance in testing her theory. Most declined, but one—a professor at Midwestern University—offered equipment and guidance.
“That was when I was like, ‘Okay this is actually coming into motion now,” she shares.
Arora opted to use fruit flies for her experiment, a standard model for human neurodegenerative disease research, because they share similar nervous and digestive systems with humans.
“I had 3,200 flies in my mom’s office, which she was not happy about,” she says, laughing.
Some days Arora spent more than six hours working on this experiment, all while keeping up with school.
“It got pretty hectic around winter break,” Arora says.
But it was all worth it when she began to see results.
“Ashwagandha in the fruit flies proved to be very promising in reversing the effects of Alzheimer’s,” she shares.
Flies receiving the supplement showed restored movement and cognition at levels comparable to healthy flies.
While the results of this experiment apply only to fruit-fly models, Arora believes the findings offer a promising foundation for human research.
“I really want to build this up in a clinical setting,” she says.
Her work has already earned major recognition. She was named one of Arizona’s Governor’s Future Innovators, won first place at the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair, and qualified for the International Science and Engineering Fair.
“I’ve always been passionate about research,” Arora says. “I just want to keep making a difference in the world.”
And although she may not have her driver’s license yet, Shireen Arora is already steering Alzheimer’s research in a bold new direction, one fruit fly at a time.
“I’ve always been passionate about research. I just want to keep making a difference in the world.”