14-Year-Old Wiz Kid Wins $25,000 Prize for Inventive Soap That Battles Skin Cancer
Heman Bekele, a 14-year-old ninth-grader from Annandale, Virginia, has been named “America’s top young scientist” after inventing a bar of soap that could potentially treat melanoma, a dangerous form of skin cancer.
His invention earned him the top prize of $25,000 in the 3M 2023 Young Scientist Challenge.
Melanoma is a deadly skin cancer that affects thousands of people in the United States each year, resulting in approximately 8,000 deaths.
Bekele’s soap is designed to reactivate dendritic cells in the skin, enabling them to fight cancer cells.
With his prize money, Bekele intends to move forward with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process to introduce his soap as an affordable treatment option for melanoma.
He aspires to make a positive impact and is looking to expand his work into other fields, such as DNA and electrical engineering.
His innovative approach to tackling cancer showcases the potential for young scientists to make a significant difference in the field of medical research.
Source: Vanguard
