If the Latin phrase, Opsins in Inia Geoffrensis means nothing to you, don't feel bad.

The phrase does not mean much to many people, but Lorren Kezmoh a 16-year-old Brentwood High School junior, has gone to great lenghths to popularize the phrase. She has completed more than a year of research in the area, earning for herself a first-place award in the 68th annual Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair Awards.

Speaking with Kezmoh may seem like it would require the use of a foreign language interpreter, but more accurately it would be best interpreted by a marine biologist with a doctorate.

"My experiment was to identify Opsins in Inia Geoffrensis," Kezmoh said. "What I'm trying to do is identify if a freshwater river dolphin can see colors. This is my third year working with the Opsin genes with this specific species. I previously determined the short wave length sensitive cone Opsin psuedo gene and this year I found the species Rhod Opsin."

In layman's terms...

"This year, what I was trying to identify is if the dolphin could see, or pick-up light in very dark conditions," Kezmoh said. "In humans, this is the gene that gives us night vision."

Originally, Kezmoh worked with the river dolphin at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium to carry-out her research. After that dolphin passed away she had to continue her work, taking a molecular approach at Duquesne University, while working along side college students and professors.

"So far for this research I determined that the Rhod Opsin in most mammals is shifted towards blue-green, the middle of the light spectrum," Kezmoh said. "The Rhod Opsin of oceanic dolphins is shifted towards the blue end of the light spectrum. There's a considerable difference between oceanic and terrestrial mammals and finding out the spectral tuning of the Rhod Opsin and Inia can be very beneficial to finding out if the species can have color vision or not."

Again in layman's terms...

"I haven't found out that they have color vision," Kezmoh said. "Through my research I found that they are more similar to terrestrial mammals than oceanic dolphins, supporting the fact that they probably have color vision."

For her efforst, Kezmoh was awarded with seven scholarships, from the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair, totaling between $4,000 and $5,000 dollars which will go towards her future college education, Kezmoh said.

She was also awarded with a sponsor award from the University of Pittsburgh.

"They award you with $50 for the research because it goes along with reseach that they support," Kezmoh said.

Kezmoh has not committed to attending a particular college yet, but has looked at colleges all over the east coast.

"I want to go into marine biology and biology in general," Kezmoh said. "I might want to go into whale and dolphin husbandry."

Kezmoh been competing in this competition when she was in the sixth grade. She has placed for research in other categories, including the intermediate category when she was in middle school, and the senior category when she began high school.

Beginning next year, she will continue her research in this area, which is not completed. Her research for next years competition will be entering areas of marine biology research that have not been researched before, by anyone, let along a high school senior.

"Two sequences for this (next) year are the long and medium wave lengths," Kezmoh said. "So this (next) year's experiment will finally determine whether the dolphin can see color or not. The short wave length was previously found, but the Rhod Opsin sequence that I obtained has not been identified or published yet."

Up next for Kezmoh, she will be submitting her work, at 16-years of age, to be published in a scientific journal.

"I sent off my research paper to a journal of a scientific society I am in," Kezmoh said. "I am working with a professor. I'm talking to him and trying to make it publishable in a scientific journal by the end of the year."

The Science Fair has been happening since 1940 and is the third oldest fair in the country under Science Service Inc., which facilitates the fair every year, a news release from the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair, said.