Teen builds cheap microgravity rig, uses red light to boost wound healing, reaches Regeneron finals

Leanne Fan, an 18-year-old from San Diego attending Westview High School, earned finalist status in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search for her study of red-light photobiomodulation in reduced-gravity conditions. She constructed a two-axis rotating apparatus costing roughly $200, avoiding the $50,000 NASA clinostat, to simulate microgravity on Earth. Using planarians as a regeneration model, she exposed wounds to 660-nanometre red light, which increased tissue regrowth by 95.2% and, with five-minute daily doses, accelerated healing by 47% under normal gravity and 95% under simulated microgravity.

Parallel experiments with human-cell wound models demonstrated a 29.4% boost in cell migration during closure. The Society for Science noted the findings could aid astronaut health, disaster relief and other remote-care scenarios where weight, cost and power are limited. Fan’s entry was chosen from more than 2,600 submissions, the largest pool since 1967, and she intends to further investigate the biological mechanisms of photobiomodulation.