A round of applause for this young woman, Teen honored for advancing cancer study

[AlCzervik]

By MIKE BAKER - Associated Press Writer
Published 8:58 pm PDT Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A North Carolina high schooler beat out 1,600 others nationwide to win a $100,000 scholarship Tuesday for developing a model she used to identify stage II colon cancer patients at a high risk for recurrence.

The model created by Shivani Sud, 17, also focused on identifying what may be the most effective drugs for treatment for those with a high risk of recurring tumors, according to organizers of the annual Intel Science Talent Search.

Sud, a senior at Jordan High School in Durham, was named the winner of the competition at an awards banquet in Washington, D.C., where 40 finalists have been showing their projects in competition for top honors.

More than 1,600 high school seniors entered the talent search with a wide range of projects, including one that identified more efficient solar cells for energy production and another that looked at the effects of a common pesticide on breast cancer and nerve cell degeneration.

The 67-year-old science search competition has previously awarded top honors to students who went on to win six Nobel Prizes, three National Medals of Science, 10 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.

Sud developed a 50-gene model for predicting recurrences of stage II colon cancer, in which the cancer has spread into nearby tissue. Using public information including 125 patient samples and clinical data, she identified genetic markers that allowed her to characterize various types of tumors.

Doctors generally use visual information, such as size, to characterize a tumor.

The model also allowed Sud to identify the drugs that may be the most effective way to treat those tumors. Such a system would allow doctors to save the most aggressive or toxic therapy for those who need it most, said Dr. Andrew M. Yeager, chairman of the judging panel and a professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

More at link
http://www.sacbee.com/827/v-print/story/778496.html

[AlCzervik]

1. hate to kick my own thread but i think this story is pretty great.

[devilgrrl]

2. kick

:kick:

[AlCzervik]

3. thank you DG.

[devilgrrl]

4. Anytime.

:-)

[AlCzervik]

5. kick for the night crew.