Watch: 17-Year-Old Makes History By Sequencing Genome of Pet Fish

Indeever Madireddy, 17, is an avid fish lover. Not as food, but as pets. The San Jose, California teen meticulously raises his freshwater angelfish from egg to adulthood. But when one of his prized fish died, he was struck with an idea: use the fish for genetic mapping. Indeever says this is important for use as “a model organism in future biomedical research.”

Working at biohacking space BioCurious, he successfully mapped the genetic code of his pet fish and submitted it to the National Library of Medicine’s Center for Biotechnology Information. 

Indeever’s passion for biomedical research is inspired by a passion for STEM education. 

“STEM, of course, is really important to me,” he says, “because it gives me the tools to solve and answer questions in the world around us.”

Click here to see & share Madireddy’s story — and check out this other recent coverage of teenagers breaking new ground in STEM: 

• A Teen’s Research on Bees’ Memory Is Helping Avert Colony Collapse Disorder

• Florida Teen Invents World’s First Sustainable Electric Vehicle Motor

• 14-Year-Old Wins $25,000 Prize For Robotic Hand He Built For Less Than $100

• Meet the 16 Under 16 in STEM Achievers

—Produced & Edited by Jim Fields