CA Teen Wins $100,000 Science Prize
A California teen who lost her great-grandfather and grandfather to cancer develops a particle that can target the treatments to the affected cells and leave the healthy cells alone.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A high school student from California won a $100,000 scholarship Monday for research that created a tiny particle she likened to a “Swiss army knife of cancer treatments” because of its precision in targeting cancer tumors.
Angela Zhang, 17, of Cupertino, Calif., won top individual honors at the Siemens Foundation’s annual high school science competition, which announced winners in Washington. Top team honors went to a pair of students from Oak Ridge, Tenn., for their research using gaming technology to analyze the motion involved in walking. Cassee Cain and Ziyuan Liu, both 17, will share a $100,000 scholarship.
Six individuals and six teams were competing for the awards, which are in their 13th year. Zhang, the only female individual finalist, said her research was in part motivated by her family. Her great grandfather had liver cancer and her grandfather died of lung cancer when she was in seventh grade.
“I asked, ‘Why does this happen. Why does cancer cause death? What are we doing to fix this and what can I do to help,’” said the Monta Vista High School senior.
Zhang said the particle she designed improves on current cancer treatments because it delivers a drug directly to tumor cells and doesn’t affect healthy cells around it. The particle is also able to release a drug when activated by a laser. The idea is still years away from being used in patients, however. Zhang says it could take 25 years between clinical trials and other steps before her research is helping patients…