Teenager Invents Nanoparticle to Fight Cancer

Angela Zhang is only seventeen, but she's already engaged in groundbreaking nanotech research. Specifically, she's developed a thingamabobber* that fights cancer:

Zhang's work reflects the growing use of nanotechnology to treat diseases of the human body on the smallest scales. She used gold and iron oxide-based nanoparticles that could act as markers for MRI and photoacoustic imaging, even as it delivered the drug salinomycin to attack cancer tumors.

"Angela created a nanoparticle that is like a Swiss army knife of cancer treatment," said Tejal Desai, a bioengineer at the University of California, San Francisco, and a competition judge. "She showed great creativity and initiative in designing a nanoparticle system that can be triggered to release drugs at the site of the tumor while also allowing for noninvasive imaging."

Link -via The Mary Sue

*A technical term. You wouldn't understand without advanced study.