Angela Zhang, High School Student Devises Potential Cancer Cure

While it may not have been a typical extra-curricular activity, 17-year-old Angela Zhang's after school project may change the world. Zhang has been making headlines recently after taking home a check of $100,000 from the national Siemens science contest, and now it has been suggested that her research could lead to a potential cure for cancer.

"I created a nanoparticle that's kind of like the Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment in that it can detect cancer cells, eradicate the cancer cells and then monitor the treatment response. So the major aim of the project was to personalize cancer medicine," Zhang told ABC News.

The teen began reading doctorate level work on bio-engineering when she was a freshman. She admitted it was a "little bit overwhelming" at first, but she quickly caught the hang of it, and by junior year the rest was history.

"I'm excited to learn just everything possible," Zhang said in the above video interview with CBS News. "Everything in the sciences -- biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, even computer science -- to make new innovations possible."

This has been an exciting month for teen girls and science: Earlier this week, an inspiring homeless teenager, Samantha Garvey, was honored in a prestigious science competition. After word spread about her accomplishment, she was given a home. The three amazing teen 2011 Google Science Fair winners also gave TED Talks about their incredible research, which you can watch here.

So, tell us: What do you think of Angela's accomplishment? Tweet us your reactions or sound off in the comments below.

Comments

[Steve Scarduzio]

11:15 PM on 02/28/2013

This is so incredible! Why is this not all over the news?

[rbnstr08]

10:42 PM on 02/12/2013

I hope that this cure will be given for free for those who have cancer. Opportunists should not offer huge amounts of money to this girl so they can make more money out of it. The government should take care of her should this be a true cure for cancer. Many of us have anguished in the departure of loved ones due to cancer. Let it be a relief for us that those who have cancer will be treated with this cure knowing that many will not go through the pain and sorrow we have gone through. You are a blessing to the human race Angela Zhang !

[cancerpatient]

11:31 AM on 07/04/2012

Fabulous!!! As promising as it sounds however, and as much as we would like to hope it doesn't get swept under the rug like the ideas of so many other cancer treatment pioneers, this brilliant new discovery will most likely be prevented from further development and ever finding it's way into bodies of humans as a potentially safe treatment. As horrible as it may seem, there is simply no money to be made with a fast, effective treatment or a cure. The BIG money is in cancer detection along with months of painful and ANTIQUATED cancer treatments like chemo. It's time for a change like this one. Will the AMA, the FDA, the ACS and the mammoth pharmaceutical companies allow it to happen though? That's the question. We can only hope so.

[George R Pearson]

02:42 PM on 05/07/2013

are you real? any thing that works is profitable, in fact, if this does actually work in humans, it would be a huge profit leader for those involved. sadly, as we have seen so many times, these "cures" that sound great, turn out not to work when they reach the actual human trials

[Xylem44]

06:40 PM on 04/05/2012

How does this story only have 43 comments?!??
This is just amazing! These are the kind of stories I wish wod make the front headlines on HP for time to time. It just can't be Republicans and Kardashians all the time!

[Steve Scarduzio]

11:14 PM on 02/28/2013

That is what I was thinking! This world is so messed up.

[Robert Bonan]

12:15 PM on 04/05/2012

It is a blessing to humanity to know about these young teens that have a passion to find cures to help us to eliminate Cancer totally. NIH and science is still looking for the Cancer cure. This is what they want you to believe, but Cancer cure has already been found. Check out Dr Burzynski’s Antineoplaston, B17 Apricot seed, Essiac Tea, - Revici's Cancer Protocol, Vitamin D-3 at 50,000 units fights cancer. I did a blog post called ( Things to do to stop feeding Cancer ) http://wp.me/p1Crrw-2k Bottom line is to stop feeding the cancer otherwise it will come back.

[James Lum]

05:25 PM on 03/17/2012

To Angela: Please contact Kanzius cancer research. Your combined research may get this sort of cancer solution available sooner . The difference is that Kanzius heats the nano-particles so that the cancer cells are killed by heat whereas your technique releases the chemo drug into the cancer cell.
Work has been done since 2008 using gold nano-particles for cancer treatments. See http://www.kanziuscancerresearch.org John Kanzius was a radio engineer (who had cancer) and believed that cancer cells can be killed by using radio waves to heat up metal particles that have been attracted to cancer cells. In a crude analogy, a person could be injected with a solution of nano-particles that are attracted to cancer cells ... wherever they are, both large tumors and single cells ... and then walk thru an MRI or X-ray or an airport scanner which heats up the nano-particles and kills cancer cells which have attached nano-particles.
I had lung cancer. It was found early and only the size of a large walnut. I elected to have Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA) instead of cutting my chest open and removing a lung lobe and going thru chemo. RFA was a quarter inch incision, insert a probe and cook the tumor.
The Kanzius method and your method is preferable ... but the drug companies will be pissed.

[Mechelle Argento]

08:10 PM on 02/01/2012

First of all, curing cancer will not stop cancer research or funding to (nor should it). Like any disease or infection, cancer will continually evolve and adapt to whatever medicines or treatments we put it up to. Without research, we would have no way to stay on top of new findings. It is better to be proactive than reactive when it comes to medicine.

What most of you should rally against, instead of academic institutions like Stanford and Northwestern with large nanoscience research labs, is the drug companies that buy these cures and then jack up the prices.

[jlopez9090]

04:43 AM on 04/07/2012

Cancer cant really evolve since it is not a bacteria or virus. Its more like a pathology of rogue cells. But yea research should not be immediately cut

[TheFlowerChild]

01:32 PM on 01/28/2012

I'm very happy that a young person found research on nano-particles of great interest and also that she is highly motivated. We need more young people like this for the sake of the future of mankind and if she's any indication of what is to come we have a chance.

[c12345]

02:54 PM on 01/27/2012

I don't mean to deminish what she did, but this story is blown out of proportion. The title is more correct than the video. She discovered a bunch of papers on a techinique being used in current cancer research. Using nano-particles to target drugs to some areas of the body, like cancer, is a technique that has been in use for years. Proving that it works is HARD (years of mouse studies). More importantly, getting it to actually work once you have this core idea is even harder (100s of the above mouse studies). There is no conspiracy, there are good reasons cancer hasn't been cured. If she took that $100k she could probably fund a 3 or 4 of the hundreds of mouse studies needed to flesh out her ideas.

That said, a high schooler following the research and writing it up for a science fair is fantastic. Proposing viable variations on the basic idea is monumental. Yes, she should replace celebrities in the national news!

[larkjgb1]

05:45 PM on 01/20/2012

We need young people like this girl held up as role models for the next generation! Great article!

[mdotding]

02:50 PM on 01/20/2012

Congratulations young lady! We needd people like you to inspire others. It does not matter if it doesn't completely cure cancer as long as we have people working on the disease, and this youngster has devoted time and effort to attempt a cure. I pray she is right. I don't believe the drug companies are keeping the cancer cure from happening. Medicare and Medicaid spend billions every year on cancer patients and cancer drugs, you had better believe they would want the cure!

[ANTGNE]

07:33 PM on 01/20/2012

Hmmm, I'm not saying drug companies are preventing a cure for cancer, but let's face it, it's an enormous industry...it is possible that many wouldn't want it to be cured because it's how they make their living? Just a thought. Do I think that's going on? Actually, no. But, people can do many things, such as lifestyle changes, exercise, not smoking, etc. to keep their health. In my heart of hearts I think we all care for one another, we just need to encourage that spirit. This poor girl was homeless as well and if that's not a good reason to try and help others, I don't know what is.

[kjp12]

08:40 PM on 01/24/2012

antgne, the young lady "Angela Zhang" is the one that did this cancer cure, "Samantha Garvey" she was homeless when she was honored in a prestigious science competition. they are two different young ladies and I hope that alot of other young people follow in there foot steps at a young teenage's age.

[thelovabletroll]

10:30 AM on 01/21/2012

They don't want the cure, because a cure would be far less profitable than research. It's a sad truth, but as long as there is more money in not curing Cancer, they aren't going to cure it.

[ANTGNE]

02:59 PM on 01/21/2012

Let's hope you're wrong. I hope so, I have it. I also believe there is goodness in mankind. I know many would think that's nieve, but it feels better to think that way.

[George R Pearson]

02:47 PM on 05/07/2013

you really believe yourself? there is profit in everything, research and cures, why? because peop;e keep getting born and keep coming down with cancer. cancer does evolve and research will never end no matter how many cures are found.

[moutonnoir]

08:32 AM on 01/20/2012

I hope my cynicism is misdirected here...

[weber drama]

11:43 PM on 01/19/2012

Now this project seems really great! No offense, but Samantha Garvey, though she has a truly inspiring story of perseverance, did not have a particularly innovative nor difficult nor "big impact" project.

[Emily Giles]

05:11 PM on 01/19/2012

wow! just, wow! what an amazing kid.

[Tiggilene]

01:31 PM on 01/19/2012

Can we make Angela a celebrity instead of Kim Kardashian? Please? Someone!

[kjp12]

08:54 PM on 01/24/2012

tiggilene, you are very right, the Kardashian's have nothing to give the world, someone should make a show with someone like Angela Zhang to show how she studies to get where she is, maybe the world would have alot less young people going to drug's and/or crime's or basiclly going nowhere in life

[Giz]

04:28 PM on 04/05/2012

I agree however rating sell these online rags. As of the time of posting - there are 42 comments to this post. There are 300 to the Kanye dating Kim post.