14 year old invents better, faster way of diagnosing pancreatic cancer - The Sauce
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Research

14 year old invents better, faster way of diagnosing pancreatic cancer

Jack

14 year old, Jack Andraka – Cancer researcher

Known as the ‘cancer paper boy’, 14 year old Jack Andraka discovered a new way of diagnosing pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer has one of the most deadly prognoses. Over 85% of pancreatic cancers are diagnosed when a patient has less than a 2% of survival. The method that is commonly used to diagnosis is 16 years.

Jack’s breakthrough was a result of a biology class when he was learning about carbon nanotubes and an antibody that attaches itself to a particular protein. He was sure that was the solution to pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

But he had to get a lab to test his hypothesis. He got 199 rejections from the applications he sent to labs just to test his theory. The 200th application gave Jack hope by offering space in their lab.

After months of research and tests, Jack came up with a test strip for pancreatic cancer that is 168 times faster, 26,000 times less expensive and 400 times more sensitive to diagnose pancreatic cancer.

Jack is now a recognized scientists and cancer researcher. He is the recipient of the 2012 Gordon E. Moore Award, the grand prize of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

 

Lesson: Never give up on what you strongly believe in.

Source: GE/Focus Forward

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Click to comment

0 Comments

  1. NOT an expert

    October 14, 2011 at 10:41 am

    I like the way Susan Wong takes those photos, sort of vignetting the point of focus. Makes it look like the world around is moving fast relative to the focus;)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Some More Sauce...

Entertainment

News of the arrest of popular disc jockey Joe Mfalme in connection with the fatal assault of a senior police officer has taken the...

Entertainment

It is the eve of a new tiding for Director Trevor, as he gets hot in the heels spearheading his now rebranded news channel,...

Da Squeeze

Is there possibly one thing that Lisa Christoffersen cannot do? Seems unlikely. Having defied odds and beat stage 4 cancer 18 years ago, her...

Da Squeeze

Kenyan rap bigwig Khaligraph Jones is utterly disappointed after his much-hyped Instagram Live session with American rap star Rick Ross failed to happen. The...

Entertainment

Wizkid has requested people stop referring to him as an Afrobeats artist. The Nigerian singer – whose real name is Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun –...

Da Squeeze

The devil works hard, but Brian Chira’s friends, acquaintances and fans work harder! Within hours of launching, the departed TikToker’s funeral fundraiser has amassed...

Entertainment

Shakira thinks she “probably” won’t find love like she had with Gerard Piqué again. The 47-year-old singer split from the former soccer star –...

Entertainment

Catherine, Princess of Wales has announced she is undergoing “preventative” chemotherapy for cancer. The 42-year-old royal – who is married to Prince William and...