A 14-year-old boy has developed a soap that could help treat skin cancer while also making it affordable for those who will potentially need it.
Heman Bekele earned top marks at the 3M Young Scientist’s Challenge, a competition encouraging kids to think of unique ways to solve everyday problems.
Instead of wanting to find a way to automate brushing his teeth or making his breakfast, Bekele worked to solve a problem that affects 1 in 5 Americans.
“Curing cancer, one bar of soap at a time,” he said in his submission. “I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas.”
Bekele, who moved to America at the age of four, created a soap after he was inspired by his childhood in Ethiopia, he told The Washington Post.
“I wanted to make my idea something that not only was great in terms of science but also could be accessible to as many people as possible,” he said.
The award-winning soap delivers cancer-fighting drugs via lipid nanoparticles, which work to activate the body’s immune cells to fend off cancer.
Bekele spoke with NPR about the competition and his invention, which could be used to help millions.
“A lot of my research and development started in my family’s kitchen and in my basement. Of course, I wasn’t doing any serious nanoparticle generation or anything like that. I was just going through the saponification [soap-making] process,” he said. “All it really requires is an emulsifier, some bases, and a couple of chemicals. So I was able to do that all relatively safely and efficiently just from my house.”
For winning the 3M’s competition, Bekele received a $25,000 prize, which he says he plans on using to “continue research within the field of STEM.”
“I still do need a lot of resources to be able to conduct this research, so this money will definitely help me with a lot of those goals. And then, of course, I’ll save a bit of it for college as well,” Bekele told NPR.