Born to
Chinese immigrants, 17-year-old Angela Zhang of Cupertino, California
is a typical American teenager. She's really into shoes and is just
learning how to drive. But there is one thing that separates her from
every other student at Monta Vista High School, something she first
shared with her chemistry teacher, Kavita Gupta. It's a research paper
Angela wrote in her spare time -- and it is advanced, to say the least.
"Cure for cancer -- a high school student," said Gupta. "It's just so
mind-boggling. I just cannot even begin to comprehend how she even
thought about it or did this." When she was a freshman, she started
reading doctorate level papers on bio-engineering. By sophomore year
she'd talked her way into the lab at Stanford, and by junior year was
doing her own research. Angela's idea was to mix cancer medicine
in a polymer that would attach to nanoparticles -- nanoparticles that
would then attach to cancer cells and show up on an MRI, so doctors
could see exactly where the tumors are. Then she thought [of aiming] an
infrared light at the tumors to melt the polymer and release the
medicine, thus killing the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells
completely unharmed. It'll take years to know if it works in
humans -- but in mice -- the tumors almost completely disappeared.
Angela recently entered her project in the national Siemens science
contest. It was no contest. She got a check for $100,000.
Note:
If this technique has already melted tumors in mice, why is CBS saying
it will take years to know if it works in humans? Why wouldn't millions
be poured in to fast track research on this exciting technology?
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