- The creation of a soap bar that may aid in the treatment of skin cancer has earned a 14-year-old from Annandale, Virginia, the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist”. With his compound-based Skin Cancer Treating Soap (SCTS), ninth-grader Heman Bekele was victorious in the 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Bekele witnessed people laboring in the scorching heat while growing up in Ethiopia, which gave him the idea for a cancer-fighting soap that retails for less than $10 a bar. His goal was to make his concept widely available and to position it as a sign of accessibility and optimism.
- Bekele’s mentor, Deborah Isabelle, a 3M product engineering specialist, has helped him further his proposals with the support of other scientists. These designs eventually need FDA clearance. Bekele wants to use the soap to represent accessibility, optimism, and a future in which everyone can get skin cancer treatment. He intends to improve his creation over the next five years and establish a nonprofit company to provide it to underprivileged areas. The ingredients in the soap have the potential to reawaken human skin-guarding dendritic cells, giving them the ability to combat cancer.
Source:
Southern Living
