Tasnia Nabil is 16 years old. She attends Massey Secondary School in Canada. In May 2017 she was awarded the prestigious Sanofi Biogenius Canada competition.
The Biogenius competition pairs high school students with academic mentors. Together they work on real research projects. Tasnia worked with Dr Alison Allan for the past 18 months. She is the Senior Oncologist at the London Regional Cancer Program. They studied a cancer treatment that includes injecting nanoparticles into a tumour. Then using external magnetic force the particles will oscillate and create friction. The heat generated from the friction is enough to kill cancer cells. This method also shows the possibility of leaving the healthy cells undamaged.
Tasnia’s research has focused on creating a computational model. This model helps doctors calculate how cancer therapy should be carried out. The inputs are the patient’s information. The outputs are how long the therapy should be and how many nanoparticles to use. Tasnia discovered a new cancer treatment using Ferromagnetic NanoTherapy. Her treatment has been shown to theoretically kill 88% of breast cancer cells in less than an hour.
As a prize, Tasnia will receive $5000. She will also compete in the International Biogenius Challenge next week in San Diego, California.
Tasnia said “I’ve never been to California, so that’s really exciting. I’m excited to meet scientists from outside Canada and hear how science has affected their lives. We all share the same passion, science, and that’s what I’m most excited for.” You can read the full story here >>
Last updated June 2017
