17-year-old wins $100,000 for creating Swiss army knife of cancer treatment

[Bosonic]

Not many of us can claim to have accomplished something as significant as Angela Zhang has at 17. The high school senior was recently awarded the $100,000 grand prize at the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, which is a research contest for high school students across the United States. If winning the top prize isn't enough of a clue, the complexity of Angela's study far exceeds most common high school science projects — she came up with a technique that could be used to treat cancer.

Working under the mentorship of Stanford University's Dr. Zhen Cheng, Angela created a gold and iron oxide-based nanoparticle that can be used to deliver a drug called salinomycin to a tumor, specifically targeting cancer stem cells that eventually give rise to tumor cells. The gold and iron oxide components can also be used for non-invasive imaging of the cancer site. Due to the twofold function of the nanoparticle, competition judge Dr. Tejal Desai calls it the "Swiss army knife of cancer treatment."

Angela, who spent 1,000 hours on the project since 2009, plans to pursue a science degree. While she hasn't ultimately decided yet, she says her choices are chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, or physics. If she can create something so advanced at her age, we can't wait to see what kind of research she'll do in the future!

http://www.tecca.com/news/2011/12/08/angela-zhang-cancer-siemens/

[Turbineguy]

1. I love stories like this!

There may be hope after all. Republicans say: Fine, as long as my tax dollars do not go towards funding cancer research!

[GeorgeGist]

6. ... and I can PROFIT from the results!

[WillyT]

2. HUGE K & R !!!

:bounce:

:kick:

[tanyev]

3. I think the future is going to be in good hands.

[jkent26943xs]

9. +1

[BlancheSplanchnik]

4. Wonderful!! Fantastic!!! Very exciting news!

Lots of stories of brilliant, brave, strong, victorious women today! I like that! Feels good! :)

[saras]

5. Damn. For a minute I thought he had some way to stop pollution

Instead we still seem to be on the track of "give everyone cancer and cure the wealthy"

[tblue37]

8. "Angela" is almost certainly a young woman, not a "he." nt

[Scuba]

7. I did that in high school too, but was so far ahead of my time no one noticed. n/t