Jack Andraka, a 15 year-old freshman at North County High School in Glen Burnie, Md., accomplished a feat of medical research that will go down in the history books as possibly the biggest achievement in seeking a cure for all cancers and saving many thousands of lives each year.
What does this story have to do with West Easton? Not much, unless cancer runs in your family. I just wanted to be among the first who write about him. He is quickly becoming a star in the media, including television appearances on talk shows.
I first saw Jack’s story on the news a few days ago. A sixty second blurb about a high school student winning an International contest for a cancer detection method. It caught my interest and I started looking for more information.
His invention involving a blood test using a paper test strip costs only 3 cents, takes less than 5 minutes to run, and is 100% accurate for pancreatic, lung, and ovarian cancer. With further development, it is expected that it will be able to detect all types of cancers as well as general diseases, such as HIV.
Jack Andraka, already interested in science years before his invention, had an epiphany in his biology class. As his teacher discussed anti-bodies he was secretly reading a scientific article on nanotubes under his desk. His biology teacher scolded him for not paying attention in class, when he was caught reading it.
He came up with a plan for development of his idea and emailed 200 university professors involved in cancer research. Jack needed lab space. He received back 199 rejections, including one that pointed out in great detail why his idea wouldn’t work. If not for one professor, Anirban Maitra, who gave him some lab space, Jack Andraka couldn’t have attained success.
It took Jack Andraka 18 months to turn his idea into reality. That includes the only 7 months of working in his lab after school and on weekends to come up with his working test for cancer, beating billion dollar corporations who have teams of scientists and who spent millions of dollars. Those corporations succeeded in developing a technology, now 6 years old, that costs $800 (which insurance companies don’t pay for), is less than 70% accurate, and because of their method being able to detect pancreatic cancer accurately only in its’ final stages, had a survival rate of just 2%. Average life expectancy of those using the old method of detection is 3 months.
Because Jack Andraka’s detection method can find cancer present before it invades the entire body, the survival rate is near 100% because pancreatic cancer can be cured in its’ earliest stage, before it turns deadly.
So much for parents who place bumper stickers on their cars proclaiming their child is an honor roll student. They don’t know Jack.
Jack Andraka now has his sights on a $10 Million X-Prize. To win that prize a contestant must invent a Star Trek-like Medical Tricorder device. It must be able to diagnose any disease by simply passing it over the skin and it can be no larger than than a smart phone. He has formed a team of other young prodigies throughout the country and is competing against approximately 300 other teams consisting of scientists who are funded by major corporations.
I’ll put my money on Jack and his team.
As Professor Anirba Maitra put it, “Jack is this generations Thomas Edison. We’re going to see a lot more light bulbs coming from him in the years ahead.”
Not impressed? The video below will allow young Jack Andrake to impress you.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
