A Bergen County teen was selected as a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search for her cutting edge cancer research.

News 12 New Jersey spoke with the student, Grace Kim, who is a senior at Bergen Academies in Hackensack. Kim has worked to find new treatments for lymphoma for the past three years in a science lab at Bergen Academies. Now, she's New Jersey's sole finalist in the Intel competition.

Kim's mentor Donna Leonardi says Kim has presented her findings to doctors at Columbia University and research scientists in South Africa. She says Grace did all her work at the high school lab while most students working at this level of complexity are using university research centers.

The Intel competition is considered the oldest and most prestigious competition of its kind in the country. Out of 1,800 applicants, the field has been narrowed to just 40 finalists.