The first early test for pancreatic cancer - devised by 15-year-old Jack Andraka

[and/or www.mantra.com/jai]

The first early test for pancreatic cancer � devised by
15-year-old Jack Andraka

By Jeremy Laurance
The Independent
May 5, 2013

A 15-year-old US high school student whose uncle died of
pancreatic cancer has developed the first test for the
disease that could detect tumours before they become too
advanced to treat.

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate for any
cancer,� which has remained unchanged for 40 years. It is
symptomless in its early stages and strikes more than
8,000 people a year in the UK and 45,000 in the US. Four
in five patients are inoperable by the time they are
diagnosed and fewer than four in 100 live for five years.

Jack Andraka wrote from his home in Maryland to 200
professors seeking laboratory time to develop his idea
for a screening test that would be as simple to use as a
pregnancy test. The son of a civil engineer and an
anaesthetist, he got the idea after researching the
problem on the web and coming up with a system.

Of the 200 professors, 199 rejected or ignored him. But
Professor Anirban Maitra, at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, an expert in the genetics of pancreatic
cancer, was intrigued. He invited Jack to come and speak
to specialists in the disease who interrogated him for
more than an hour.

At the end of the interview, the specialists were
sufficiently impressed to allow him space in their
laboratory to develop his system. The result was a
dipstick paper sensor that detects the level of a protein
called mesothelin in the urine (or blood) which is a
biomarker for pancreatic cancer.

It is 168 times faster than the existing, inaccurate
method of measuring serum tumour markers, more sensitive
and, at 5 cents (3p) each, cheap. It won the $75,000
Grand Jury prize at the Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair last year. Jack was recently invited to
speak at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in London.

Experts say the pancreatic dipstick stands a chance of
becoming the world�s best and cheapest test for the
disease � but it will take many years of trials and
further development before it can be made commercially
available. Several pharmaceutical companies are said to
be interested.

Jack was invited by Michelle Obama to the State of the
Union address in February, where Barack Obama told the
crowd what he had achieved.� �Not bad for a guy who is
just barely old enough to drive,� the President joked.

When Jack was asked at the RSM meeting whether he was
worried that, having sent his idea round to so many
experts, somebody else might take it up and develop it,
he replied that it would not have mattered because it was
for the benefit of humankind. That won him the loudest
applause of the day.

Mentor�s view: 'An honour to have him in my lab'

Jack Andraka�s mentor, Professor Anirban Maitra, said:
�Jack Andraka is fabulous. I have been delighted and
honoured to have him in my lab. He sent me a nice write-
up on his lab plans and research, very interesting coming
from a 15-year-old boy... I am fortunate to have answered
his email.�

Steve Pereira, a member of Pancreatic Cancer UK�s medical
advisory board and consultant gastroenterologist at
University College Hospital, London, said: �It is very
impressive that a 15-year-old can be interested and
stimulated to look into an area that is under-researched.

�Mesothelin has been looked at before but the innovation
was to develop the test as a dipstick for urine...

�The excitement is in using new technology to bind an
antibody to a dipstick and then use it like a pregnancy
test.�

More at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-first-early-test-for-pancreatic-cancer--devised-by-15yearold-jack-andraka-8604473.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj

o o o

o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.

o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.

[John H. Gohde]

On May 6, 6:12 pm, use...@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr.

> test.”

So Science Psychos, Taka included, where is this 15-year-old's PhD and
his science degrees?

Just like I have always wrote: Who needs these academic ass-holes?
All anyone needs, is to just do it. :)