15 year old invents New Method of Diagnosing Cancer

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15 year old invents New Method of Diagnosing Cancer

AOA, Jack Thomas Andraka is a 15-year-old American inventor and amateur cancer researcher. He is the 2012 Intel Science Fair grand prize winner. Andraka was awarded the Gordon E. Moore Award for his work in developing a new method for detecting pancreatic cancer. The Gordon E. Moore Award, named in honor of the co-founder of Intel, is for $75,000. He also won other prizes in smaller individual categories for a total award of $100,500.

http://www.social-consciousness.com/2013/02/fifteen-year-old-invents-cancer-diagnosing-method.html

Method:
Andraka cultured MIA PaCa cells, from a commercial pancreatic carcinoma cell line, which overexpress mesothelin, a biomarker for pancreatic cancer. The mesothelin was isolated, concentrated and quantified with ELISA. After optimization with the Western Blot assay, the human mesothelin-specific antibodies were mixed with single walled carbon nanotubes and used to coat strips of ordinary filter paper. This made the paper conductive. The optimal layering was determined using a scanning electron microscope. Cell media spiked with varying amounts of mesothelin was then tested against to the paper biosensor and any change in the electrical potential of the sensor strip (due to the changing conductivity of the nanotubes) was measured, before and after each application. Specifically, what happened was this:
The antibodies would bind to the mesothelin and enlarge. These beefed-up molecules would spread the nanotubes farther apart, changing the electrical properties of the network: The more mesothelin present, the more antibodies would bind and grow big, and the weaker the electrical signal would become.

A dose-response curve was constructed with an R2 value of .9992. Tests on human blood serum obtained from both healthy people and patients with chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (a precursor to pancreatic carcinoma), or pancreatic cancer showed a similar response. The sensor's limit of detection sensitivity was found to be 0.156 ng/mL; 10 ng/mL is considered the level of overexpression of mesothelin consistent with pancreatic cancer. Andraka's sensor costs $3.00 and 10 tests can be performed per strip, taking 5 minutes each. The method is 168 times faster, 26,667 times less expensive, and 400 times more sensitive than ELISA, and 25% to 50% more accurate than the CA10-9 test.

Officials at Intel have said that Andraka's method is more than 90 percent accurate in detecting the presence of mesothelin.

In the meantime, in the Muslim world Pakistani Junaid Jamshed (a pop star but now a 'born-again muslim) declares 'it is harram for a woman to drive a car' !!