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Grade 10 student Amit Sheer pours liquid in the school science lab during a lunch break at Colonel By Secondary School.
Local high school student taking his science international Brier Dodge
brier.dodge@metroland.com
News - Amit Sheer might be the kid who goes on to cure cancer. The Grade 10 student at Colonel By Secondary School recently created a project with small particles targeting cancer cells, which was accepted into the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. He’ll take his research to Los Angeles from May 11 to 16 to compete against high school students from over 70 countries. Of the 1,600 students competing for prize money in California, 12 are Canadian. His project’s name is a mouthful, titled Personalized Medicine: A Novel Quantum Dot Bioconjugate Targeted Cancer Therapy. In the project, he used tiny particles, called nanoparticles, to attach to a specific, targeted DNA strand. They attach through a chemical reaction to the target. Nanoparticle research can be useful in creating drugs to treat cancer that are less harmful to the surrounding tissue because the healthy DNA strands aren’t damaged or exposed to harsh treatments. While the Barrhaven student attends Colonel By for the prep years of the international baccalaureate program offered there, he had to look further to complete his science fair research. He was able to gain access to the science labs and equipment at Carleton University. Amit’s work has been confined to the lab, and didn’t feature trials, which would need significant approval. He said most new advances in the medical sciences take about a decade from theoretical research, through trials, to actually being applied on humans. He said he was shocked when he found out he was being sent to California as part of the Canadian delegation. “I actually think the person on the other end of the phone was surprised with my (excited) reaction,” he said. Amit will enter his project into several other science fairs this year, but getting accepted to the Intel International fair was catching the big fish. He’s entered into a medical sciences category, a field he wants to study after high school. “I think it’s really cool to do research on something that matters to the world,” he said. “I think nanotechnology is the next big thing.” And while getting a sponsored trip to California is icing on the cake, it’s not the driving factor behind Amit’s studies. He said he plans to study medical sciences, or potentially apply to medical school, in the future. “You can’t do anything if you’re not passionate about it,” he said.
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Kanata Kourier-Standard EMC - Thursday, April 3, 2014 47