Heman Bekele. Photo : Collected
A 14-year-old school student has been termed "America's top young scientist" for creating a bar of soap that may be effective in the treatment of melanoma, a skin cancer that affects roughly 100,000 individuals in the United States each year and kills approximately 8,000. Heman Bekele, a ninth-grader from Annandale, Virginia, was selected over nine other finalists for the award, reports The Guardian.
“Curing cancer, one bar of soap at a time,” he said in his submission. “I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas,” he added.
He submitted his soap idea, "skin cancer treating soap," produced from ingredients that may reawaken dendritic cells that defend human skin, allowing them to combat cancer cells. Bekele stated in a video for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge that he believes "that young minds can make a positive impact on the world," the report said.
Bekele's inspiration stemmed from his childhood in Ethiopia, where he saw people continually labouring under the blazing sun. “I wanted to make my idea something that not only was great in terms of science but also could be accessible to as many people as possible.”
Skin cancer is quite common, according to the American Cancer Society (ACA), with melanoma accounting for only 1 percent, yet causing the bulk of skin cancer deaths, the report also said.
According to the association, melanoma rates have been significantly increasing over the last few decades, particularly among women over 50, and it is more than 20 times more prevalent in white people than in black people. At the same time, owing to breakthroughs in therapy, melanoma death rates have decreased over the last decade.
After receiving the award, Bekele told the judging panel that he hoped the soap would become a "symbol of hope, accessibility, and a world where skin cancer treatment is within everyone's reach."
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