Total Pageviews

Monday 6 May 2013

The first early test for pancreatic cancer – devised by 15-year-old Jack Andraka !


A 15-year-old US high school student whose uncle died of pancreatic cancer has developed the first test for the disease that could detect tumours before they become too advanced to treat.Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate for any cancer,  which has remained unchanged for 40 years. It is symptomless in its early stages and strikes more than 8,000 people a year in the UK and 45,000 in the US. Four in five patients are inoperable by the time they are diagnosed and fewer than four in 100 live for five years.

Jack Andraka wrote from his home in Maryland to 200 professors seeking laboratory time to develop his idea for a screening test that would be as simple to use as a pregnancy test. The son of a civil engineer and an anaesthetist, he got the idea after researching the problem on the web and coming up with a system.

Of the 200 professors, 199 rejected or ignored him. But Professor Anirban Maitra, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, an expert in the genetics of pancreatic cancer, was intrigued. He invited Jack to come and speak to specialists in the disease who interrogated him for more than an hour.

At the end of the interview, the specialists were sufficiently impressed to allow him space in their laboratory to develop his system. The result was a dipstick paper sensor that detects the level of a protein called mesothelin in the urine (or blood) which is a biomarker for pancreatic cancer.

It is 168 times faster than the existing, inaccurate method of measuring serum tumour markers, more sensitive and, at 5 cents (3p) each, cheap. It won the $75,000 Grand Jury prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair last year. Jack was recently invited to speak at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in London.

Experts say the pancreatic dipstick stands a chance of becoming the world’s best and cheapest test for the disease – but it will take many years of trials and further development before it can be made commercially available. Several pharmaceutical companies are said to be interested.

Full story here. 

There are some great human beings left.

When Jack was asked at the RSM meeting whether he was worried that, having sent his idea round to so many experts, somebody else might take it up and develop it, he replied that it would not have mattered because it was for the benefit of humankind. That won him the loudest applause of the day.

Eddie
 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's an amazing story.

Lowcarb team member said...

Agree Carole, it's not all about money. I hope his idea works, famous at 15 eh. What a star.

Eddie

Anonymous said...

What a star person this young boy is, interesting to watch and follow this story over the coming years.

Kate

Unknown said...

And another star - found this link on MDA's Weekend Link Love:

http://www.ktuu.com/health/ktuu-science-fair-project-proves-celiac-more-prevalent-in-society--20130410,0,2525295.story

Science Fair Project Proves Celiac More Prevalent (than CDC says it is).

Another very clever and innovative young lady with a bright future, methinks.

Anonymous said...

Recommended read
Jeff

Lowcarb team member said...

Hi Indy

I tried giving you support at the FTA blog, I got my lungs kicked in, thems the breaks eh.

Regards Eddie

Unknown said...

I wouldn't worry about it, Eddie. I'm totally disinterested in what non-diabetic so-called "experts" and "diet gurus" have to say about BG control. Just like the rest of 'em, RN shows he doesn't have a clue about it.

I'll listen to Richard Bernstein and Jenny Ruhl any day - RN, Nigiepoo and Kocurnut$ - umnnn, not so much :-)

Lowcarb team member said...

Hi Jill,

Totally agree I get pissed off with non-diabetics claiming they have all the answers when it's us that have diabetes, the BG monitors and the A1c's that show we are in control.

Cheers
Graham