By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-902224.mp3
Dallas, TX – 16 year-old Amy Chyao, of Richardson, is this year's top winner of the world's largest pre-college science competition. KERA's Bill Zeeble talked to her in California, where she accepted her $75,000 first prize.
Chyao's project focused on development of photo dynamic therapy. That's an emerging cancer treatment that uses light energy to activate a cancer-killing drug . But it's only been used on skin cancers. Chyao's project uses the therapy internally. Through nano-tubes, Chyao says the cancer drug goes to the tumor, where it's activated.
Chyao: I did research and found near infra red light wavelengths are capable of penetrating the body. I had to design a drug that's able to produce toxic chemicals when excited by use-specific light wavelengths.
Chyao attends Williams High School in Plano. She says this research is still young, & she intends to keep pursuing it through a UTD science program she's also enrolled in.
Chyao: I'm just a sophomore so I have 2 more years and that's what I'll be doing.
Chyao won this top honor at the Intel international Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose. It's not her first big award. She has excelled in the national spelling bee, participated in Poland, in a Nobel training program, and also plays cello with the Dallas Youth Orchestra. One headline for a past article about her said the teen excels in almost everything she does. Bill Zeeble KERA news.