15 Year Old Invents Method to Detect Pancreatic Cancer

[WildBill]

A Maryland student was awarded the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair on Friday for developing a urine and blood test that detects pancreatic cancer with 90 percent accuracy.

Jack Andraka, 15, claimed the $75,000 prize for his test, which is roughly 28 times cheaper and faster, and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/ ... z1vXIj8Vcg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RoyGBiv]

Cheers for the smart kid.!

Hopefully he was also smart enough to file for a patent.

ETA: http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His study resulted in over 90 percent accuracy and showed his patent-pending sensor to be 28 times faster, 28 times less expensive and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests

[philip964]

Hopefully this will lead to early detection as Pancreatic Cancer is normally detected after symptoms start and by then it is usually too late.

[RPB]

That's the second child (under 18) this year I've heard about making major strides in detection and/or treatments
I'm glad they got their ideas noticed before further education screwed them up, and I'm glad their moms kept them until they were ripe and hatched.
The other was some girl who did something so that a medicine attaches to some heat seeking missile type thing nano something that has it's GPS set to only go to cancer cells (that's the best I could understand it )

[Medic218]

I'm thrilled by this! Now, if we can just start finding cures we'll really be in good shape.

[WildBill]

The other was some girl who did something so that a medicine attaches to some heat seeking missile type thing nano something that has it's GPS set to only go to cancer cells (that's the best I could understand it )

Better learn to duck and cover before pulling the trigger on that one.

[The Annoyed Man]

I actually saw him appear on Fox News a few months ago when the idea first came out. My dad died from pancreatic cancer. One of the terrible things about it is that pancreatic cancer is often not discovered until well after it anything can be done about it, and it is very agressive so the mortality rate is (or was) nearly 100%. The earlier it can be detected, the better the odds are for the patient.

[WildBill]

I actually saw him appear on Fox News a few months ago when the idea first came out. My dad died from pancreatic cancer. One of the terrible things about it is that pancreatic cancer is often not discovered until well after it anything can be done about it, and it is very agressive so the mortality rate is (or was) nearly 100%. The earlier it can be detected, the better the odds are for the patient.

Pancreatic cancer is very quick growing and very lethal. One of my co-workers died from this a couple of years ago. He died within two months of his diagnosis.

Maybe discovering the markers or compounds that he used to diagnose the disease will lead to learning the causes so it can be prevented.