Jack Andraka did do something. He went back online and learned that people with pancreatic cancer have elevated levels of a protein called mesothelin in their bloodstream, and that early detection is key to increasing the chances of surviving the disease.
Borrowing a lab at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he went on to develop a simple paper sensor that can detect the mesothelin in a single drop of blood or urine, signaling the presence of pancreatic cancer much earlier than was possible with previous tests.
Jack's test is 90 percent accurate.
“The sensor is 400 times more sensitive, 168 times faster and 26,000 times less expensive. It costs three cents per test and takes only five minutes to run,” he said.
Jack's mentor at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Anirban Maitra, was the only one out of 200 researchers to respond favorably to e-mails the student sent out describing his project.
“I have to admit, initially I was very surprised that this was a 15-year-old who was writing this. I wanted to meet this obviously gifted young man and see what he wanted to talk about and so I called him over for an interview. He’s very impressive,” Maitra said.
In 2011, Dr. Maitra gave Jack a corner of his lab, where he worked for seven months completing his award-winning project.
He has since patented his pancreatic cancer sensor and is working on developing it into a simple, over-the-counter test.
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