A 14-year-old boy won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge by developing an affordable soap that cures skin cancer.
According to Sunny Skyz, Heman Bekele won the $25,000 cash prize. The Virginia native came out on top after he presented his two-minute video submission.
In the video, he explained, “Melanoma is a variant of skin cancer where the pigment-producing cells that give completion and detail to the skin slowly die.”
He noted that treatments are often expensive and that each patient ends up paying about $40,000 by the end of their care.
Bekele also described how this affects individuals in third-world countries who cannot receive expensive treatments. He said, “In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa where basic healthcare, nevertheless high-tech cancer treatments, are not available, recent reports show a 20% recovery rate to melanoma, in comparison to a 98% recovery rate in the U.S.”
To combat this disparity, Bekele explained how he researched how melanoma develops. He learned that dendritic cells are made to boost responses in the immune system but that skin cancer cells weaken the dendritic cells and spread, weakening the body’s response.
Bekele then developed a Melanoma Treating Soap (MTS) by mixing common medicinal soap in specific ratios that boost dendritic cells. By infusing it with salicylic acid, glycolic acid, and tretinoin, these keratolytic agents revive the dendritic over time.
He also noted, “The final product came out to a shockingly cheap 50 cents a bar, or $10 for a pack of 20.”
According to the Young Scientists Lab, Bekele was inspired to join the contest because “I believe that young minds can make a positive impact on the world. I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas.”
