Herman Bekele, a 14-year-old student from Annandale, Virginia, USA, has won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge by developing a bar ‘Melanoma Treating Soap’. He beat nine other finalists. The children were matched with scientists who mentored them during the development of their concepts through to working prototypes.
Herman hailed his entry as “Curing cancer, one bar of soap at a time.”
“I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas,” he added.
“I made this soap by fusing regular medicinal soap with a 50/30/20 ratio of salicylic acid, glycolic acid, and tretinoin, which are all keratolytic agents that slowly reactivate dendritic cells,” Bekele said in his presentation. “After MTS is used the soap releases toll-like receptors into your skin. These receptors latch onto dendritic cells which reactivate them. The now reactivated dendritic cells then join with TN io12 cells to fight infected HPV cells.”
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“I applied for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge because I believe that young minds can make a positive impact on the world,” Bekele said in an interview with the Young Scientist Lab. “I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas.”
