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"Jack Andraka’s test for pancreatic cancer could save thousands of lives. But as he visits London for a TEDx conference he tells Charlotte Edwardes he doesn't even think he’s that smart"
"Jack Andraka has a brace running along his top teeth, mild acne, a faltering voice, and one of those Justin Bieber-ish hairdos that look as if he’s been standing in front of a jet engine. He is, at first glance, Average Teenage Boy.
And then you learn that aged 15 Jack Andraka discovered a near-100 per cent accurate test for pancreatic cancer that diagnoses early enough to ensure an almost 100 per cent chance of survival. In context: only 5.5 per cent of those diagnosed currently survive for five years. Andraka’s test, 400 times more sensitive, 168 times faster and 26,000 times cheaper than today’s, will revolutionise that. It can also be applied to ovarian and lung cancer.
Jack, now 16, is certainly not average. His lightbulb idea occurred while reading an article on carbon nanotubes in a journal he’d smuggled into biology class under his hoodie. He recognised that nanotubes could suspend a protein, which, when coated on strips of filter paper, could cheaply and reliably test for pancreatic cancer (the disease killed both a family member, and his hero, Steve Jobs). “Just after I had my ‘eureka’ moment,” he says, “the teacher stormed over and confiscated the journal.”
He wrote to 200 professors begging to develop his theory. All but one rejected him. Dr Anirban Maitra, at the Sol Goldman Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore was prepared to take the risk. “Because of the laws on child labour, I was ‘a volunteer’ and snuck into the lab through a back door,” says Andraka.
The potential of his discovery is huge: “You can switch the antibody to detect all kinds of diseases: HIV and Aids, Alzheimer’s, heart disease,” he explains.
Today we’re in a café of corporate blandness near Waterloo. Andraka sits, hands in lap, a keen smile across his schoolboy features. He’s telling me how an “ordinary kid” from Crownsville, Maryland, has become an award-winning inventor, scientist and campaigner before he’s old enough to vote. Or drive. Or drink alcohol."
.....
"Jack’s cancer discovery won him the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair — and $75,000 towards his college tuition (internet footage shows him going nuts with joy, screaming, crying and hugging all the presenters).
He won a further $100,500 in smaller individual categories while his brother won $96,000 for a project about how toxic mine drainage affects the environment. While Luke has enrolled at Virginia Tech, Jack has another two years before college — “I want to go to Stanford.”
Today he’s confronting electronic journals — the kind he used to research his cancer breakthrough — on their pay-wall policies. “Each one costs about $35, so I can only afford a few. I want it democratised so anyone can innovate, regardless of age, background, gender. I want to change that.”
Indeed. One imagines Jack Andraka will be changing the world for many years to come. "
"Jack Andraka’s test for pancreatic cancer could save thousands of lives. But as he visits London for a TEDx conference he tells Charlotte Edwardes he doesn't even think he’s that smart"
"Jack Andraka has a brace running along his top teeth, mild acne, a faltering voice, and one of those Justin Bieber-ish hairdos that look as if he’s been standing in front of a jet engine. He is, at first glance, Average Teenage Boy.
And then you learn that aged 15 Jack Andraka discovered a near-100 per cent accurate test for pancreatic cancer that diagnoses early enough to ensure an almost 100 per cent chance of survival. In context: only 5.5 per cent of those diagnosed currently survive for five years. Andraka’s test, 400 times more sensitive, 168 times faster and 26,000 times cheaper than today’s, will revolutionise that. It can also be applied to ovarian and lung cancer.
Jack, now 16, is certainly not average. His lightbulb idea occurred while reading an article on carbon nanotubes in a journal he’d smuggled into biology class under his hoodie. He recognised that nanotubes could suspend a protein, which, when coated on strips of filter paper, could cheaply and reliably test for pancreatic cancer (the disease killed both a family member, and his hero, Steve Jobs). “Just after I had my ‘eureka’ moment,” he says, “the teacher stormed over and confiscated the journal.”
He wrote to 200 professors begging to develop his theory. All but one rejected him. Dr Anirban Maitra, at the Sol Goldman Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore was prepared to take the risk. “Because of the laws on child labour, I was ‘a volunteer’ and snuck into the lab through a back door,” says Andraka.
The potential of his discovery is huge: “You can switch the antibody to detect all kinds of diseases: HIV and Aids, Alzheimer’s, heart disease,” he explains.
Today we’re in a café of corporate blandness near Waterloo. Andraka sits, hands in lap, a keen smile across his schoolboy features. He’s telling me how an “ordinary kid” from Crownsville, Maryland, has become an award-winning inventor, scientist and campaigner before he’s old enough to vote. Or drive. Or drink alcohol."
.....
"Jack’s cancer discovery won him the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair — and $75,000 towards his college tuition (internet footage shows him going nuts with joy, screaming, crying and hugging all the presenters).
He won a further $100,500 in smaller individual categories while his brother won $96,000 for a project about how toxic mine drainage affects the environment. While Luke has enrolled at Virginia Tech, Jack has another two years before college — “I want to go to Stanford.”
Today he’s confronting electronic journals — the kind he used to research his cancer breakthrough — on their pay-wall policies. “Each one costs about $35, so I can only afford a few. I want it democratised so anyone can innovate, regardless of age, background, gender. I want to change that.”
Indeed. One imagines Jack Andraka will be changing the world for many years to come. "