2023-10-25 17:20:00
A teenager has been named America’s “best young scientist” following developing a soap that might be useful in treating cutaneous melanoma, a skin cancer.
Heman Bekele, a 14-year-old high school student living in Annandale, Virginia, near the nation’s capital, Washington, won the grand prize following beating nine other finalists.
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“Cure cancer, one soap at a time,” he says in his submission for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
Capture d’écran X / Discovery Education
In fact, melanoma cancer is diagnosed in approximately 100,000 people in the United States each year, and kills nearly 8,000.
“I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the ideal platform to present my ideas,” he adds.
A positive step forward for all
The soap is made from compounds that can reactivate the dendritic cells that protect human skin, thereby helping to fight cancer cells.
His idea came to him when he lived in Ethiopia until the age of four where, according to Washington Posthe had seen people working constantly under the scorching sun.
AFP
“I wanted to make my concept something that was not only brilliant in terms of science, but also accessible to as many people as possible,” he explains.
In a video for the challenge, Bekele says he believes “young minds can have a positive impact on the world.”
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His mentor within the 3M Challenge, Deborah Isabelle, described the teenager to the media outlet as “determined to make the world a better place for people he hasn’t necessarily met yet.”
A worrying cancer
According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancers, with melanoma accounting for only 1% but constituting the majority of skin cancer deaths.
The rate of melanoma has increased rapidly in recent decades, particularly among women over 50, and it is 20 times more common among Caucasians than among Blacks.
AgenceQMI
However, the death rate from melanoma has declined over the past decade thanks to awareness and advances in medical treatments.
After winning the prize, the young Bekele announced to the jury that he hoped to make the soap a “symbol of hope, accessibility and a world where treatment for skin cancer is within everyone’s reach.” .
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