Angela Zhang is 17 years old and is already making a name for herself as a top cancer researcher. She's created a nanoparticle – one that kills cancer – and for that, she earned $100,000 for first prize in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.
Her project "Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells" was apparently as complicated as it sounds. A nanoparticle is like a very tiny and very simple robot that can enter the body and go right to the cancer cell.
The nanoparticle Zhang created is already being referred to as something of a "Swiss army knife" in the area of cancer treatment. That's not to say it's dull and rusty because you didn't take care of it when you were out camping, but rather that it has a whole bunch of useful applications.
The nanoparticle goes to tumours where it kills cancer cells and deposits gold and iron-oxide materials to help doctors find it with MRI imaging. Then the robots release cancer-killing medicine right at the sight of the tumour. It will take years to know if it works in humans, but in mice, the results are already clear: the tumours almost completely disappear! Lots of scientists are really excited about her research. You can check out a video of how it works at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/angela-zhang-high-school-_n_1207177.html
Not only is this impressive in its own right, but let us remind you that this girl is 17. She's got a lot of time ahead of her. She has spent about 1,000 hours developing this particle since 2009 (when she was 15) and she wants to continue to study chemical engineering, biomedical engineering and physics. She hopes to some day be a research professor. If she's accomplished this by 17, there's virtually no doubt Zhang's future is bright.
"I'm excited to learn just everything possible," Zhang said in a video interview with CBS News, "everything in the sciences – biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, even computer science – to make new innovations possible."
Another story recently making headlines is that of a Long Island homeless teen, who was recently named one of the top science students in the U.S.; she will now have a home to call her own with her family. Samantha Garvey, 17, is among 61 Long Island teens designated as semi-finalists in the National Intel Science Search. Samantha's family was evicted from their home in December after her parents were injured in a car crash.
Samantha, along with her mom, dad and two siblings, moved into a homeless shelter in Bay Shore a little over two weeks ago. Samantha said this was the second time the family had to move to a shelter. Being homeless "has always been a motivator for me," she said.
That motivation has driven Samantha to become an honour student applying for admission to Brown University, among others, even as she struggled to find the cash to pay for her application. "You can sit around and mope, but what's that going to get you?" Samantha said.
The teen found relief in the two and a half-year scientific study that culminated in her Intel entry. The study focused on the effects of predators on mussels, and the work took her to a Long Island salt marsh and a research lab at Stony Brook University — all as she faced obstacles at home.
"Sam has the ability to focus amidst all of her troubles," said teacher Rebecca Grella; "even in the darkness, she sees the light." "I tell all my customers about her," said dad Leo Garvey, now working as a cab driver. "We are so proud of her," said mom Olga Garvey, now working at a local hospital.
Samantha Garvey aspires to be a marine biologist. She hopes for more good news later this month, when Intel names its finalists for the competition's top prize of $100,000. Because of her determination, this homeless whiz kid will get a new home.
