Pancreatic Cancer Test

[Free To Canoe]

American 15-year-old tells TED 2013 audience how he used Internet to invent early detection tool for cancer

I think this is an inspiring story.

The test costs three cents, takes minutes, and appears to be 100 percent accurate, according to his TED Talk.

...What he found was there were thousands of proteins that could be detected in the blood of people with pancreatic cancer, and he hunted for one that could serve as an early flag for the illness.
“Finally, on the 4,000th try when I am losing my sanity, I found the protein,” Andraka said.

Jack Andraka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American 15-year-old tells TED 2013 audience how he used Internet to invent early detection tool for cancer | The Raw Story

 

[Free To Canoe]

American 15-year-old tells TED 2013 audience how he used Internet to invent early detection tool for cancer

I think this is an inspiring story.

The test costs three cents, takes minutes, and appears to be 100 percent accurate, according to his TED Talk.

...What he found was there were thousands of proteins that could be detected in the blood of people with pancreatic cancer, and he hunted for one that could serve as an early flag for the illness.
“Finally, on the 4,000th try when I am losing my sanity, I found the protein,” Andraka said.

Jack Andraka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American 15-year-old tells TED 2013 audience how he used Internet to invent early detection tool for cancer | The Raw Story

I kind of wonder if something that uses carbon nanotubes is going to cost 3 cents but I wouldn't want to be the one to detract from the wow factor.

 

[ERD50]

I kind of wonder if something that uses carbon nanotubes is going to cost 3 cents but I wouldn't want to be the one to detract from the wow factor.

Well, I've seen a few TED Talks with a lot of 'fluff', so I was a bit skeptical. The linked article and a few others were kinda short on substance, but this Smithsonian article is pretty good, IMO.

Jack Andraka, the Teen Prodigy of Pancreatic Cancer | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

The kid is persistent, 4,000 tests, 200 emails to labs before John Hopkins picked him up. It sure looks promising, but it does take time for these things to get tested on a large scale. Regardless, it sure sounds like he has what it takes for a very bright future.

Thanks for posting, very inspirational.


-ERD50

 

[MBAustin]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

[Free To Canoe]

Well, I've seen a few TED Talks with a lot of 'fluff', so I was a bit skeptical. The linked article and a few others were kinda short on substance, but this Smithsonian article is pretty good, IMO.

Jack Andraka, the Teen Prodigy of Pancreatic Cancer | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

The kid is persistent, 4,000 tests, 200 emails to labs before John Hopkins picked him up. It sure looks promising, but it does take time for these things to get tested on a large scale. Regardless, it sure sounds like he has what it takes for a very bright future.

Thanks for posting, very inspirational.


-ERD50

I liked this article best of all. Thanks

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

American 15-year-old tells TED 2013 audience how he used Internet to invent early detection tool for cancer

I think this is an inspiring story.

The test costs three cents, takes minutes, and appears to be 100 percent accurate, according to his TED Talk.

...What he found was there were thousands of proteins that could be detected in the blood of people with pancreatic cancer, and he hunted for one that could serve as an early flag for the illness.
“Finally, on the 4,000th try when I am losing my sanity, I found the protein,” Andraka said.

Jack Andraka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American 15-year-old tells TED 2013 audience how he used Internet to invent early detection tool for cancer | The Raw Story

Sounds like a bright and motivated young man, and the test has "biologic plausibility."

But clinical trials, if well done, can be cruel to early stage diagnostic tests often proving them to be less useful than hoped. As the numbers increase the numbers of false positives and false negatives rise and next thing you know you are doing invasive tests on too many normal patients who had an abnormal screening results, or who have aggressive disease but the test "missed" them for some reason.

Let's hope this one holds up. Even then, pancreatic cancer lacks a consistently effective treatment so far. It's a tricky, miserable disease.