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Have you ever experienced[br]a moment in your life

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that was so painful and confusing,

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that all you wanted to do

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was learn as much as you could[br]to make sense of it all?

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When I was 13, a close family friend[br]who was like an uncle to me

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passed away from pancreatic cancer.

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When the disease hit so close to home,

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I knew I needed to learn more.

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So I went online to find answers.

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Using the Internet, I found a variety[br]of statistics on pancreatic cancer,

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and what I had found shocked me.

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Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers[br]are diagnosed late,

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when someone has less[br]than a two percent chance of survival.

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Why are we so bad at detecting[br]pancreatic cancer?

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The reason?

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Today's current "modern" medicine[br]is a 60-year-old technique.

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That's older than my dad.

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(Laughter)

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But also, it's extremely expensive,[br]costing 800 dollars per test,

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and it's grossly inaccurate, missing[br]30 percent of all pancreatic cancers.

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Your doctor would have to be ridiculously[br]suspicious that you have the cancer

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in order to give you this test.

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Learning this, I knew there[br]had to be a better way.

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So, I set up scientific criteria

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as to what a sensor[br]would have to look like

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in order to effectively[br]diagnose pancreatic cancer.

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The sensor would have to be:

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inexpensive, rapid, simple, sensitive,

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selective, and minimally invasive.

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Now, there's a reason why this test[br]hasn't been updated in over six decades.

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And that's because when[br]we're looking for pancreatic cancer,

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we're looking at your bloodstream,

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which is already abundant in all these[br]tons and tons of protein,

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and you're looking for this miniscule[br]difference in this tiny amount of protein.

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Just this one protein.

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That's next to impossible.

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However, undeterred[br]due to my teenage optimism --

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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I went online to a teenager's[br]two best friends, Google and Wikipedia.

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I got everything for my homework[br]from those two sources.

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(Laughter)

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And what I had found was an article

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that listed a database[br]of over 8,000 different proteins

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that are found when you have[br]pancreatic cancer.

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So, I decided to go[br]and make it my new mission

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to go through all these proteins,

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and see which ones could serve[br]as a bio-marker for pancreatic cancer.

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And to make it a bit simpler for myself,

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I decided to map out[br]scientific criteria, and here it is.

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Essentially, first, the protein would have[br]to be found in all pancreatic cancers,

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at high levels in the bloodstream,

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in the earliest stages,[br]but also only in cancer.

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And so I'm just plugging and chugging[br]through this gargantuan task,

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and finally, on the 4,000th try,

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when I'm close to losing my sanity,

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I find the protein.

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And the name of the protein[br]I'd located was called mesothelin,

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and it's just your ordinary,[br]run-of-the-mill type protein,

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unless, of course, you have[br]pancreatic, ovarian or lung cancer,

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in which case it's found at these[br]very high levels in your bloodstream.

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But also, the key is that it's found[br]in the earliest stages of the disease,

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when someone has close[br]to 100 percent chance of survival.

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So now that I'd found[br]a reliable protein I could detect,

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I then shifted my focus[br]to actually detecting that protein,

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and thus, pancreatic cancer.

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Now, my breakthrough[br]came in a very unlikely place,

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possibly the most unlikely[br]place for innovation --

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my high school biology class,[br]the absolute stifler of innovation.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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And I had snuck in this article[br]on these things called carbon nanotubes,

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and that's just a long,[br]thin pipe of carbon

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that's an atom thick, and one[br]50,000th the diameter of your hair.

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And despite their extremely small sizes,

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they have these incredible properties.

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They're kind of like the superheroes[br]of material science.

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And while I was sneakily reading this[br]article under my desk in my biology class,

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we were supposed to be paying attention[br]to these other kind of cool molecules,

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called antibodies.

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And these are pretty cool[br]because they only react

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with one specific protein,

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but they're not nearly[br]as interesting as carbon nanotubes.

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And so then, I was sitting in class,[br]and suddenly it hit me:

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I could combine what I was[br]reading about, carbon nanotubes,

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with what I was supposed to be[br]thinking about, antibodies.

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Essentially, I could weave[br]a bunch of these antibodies

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into a network of carbon nanotubes,

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such that you have a network[br]that only reacts with one protein,

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but also, due to the properties[br]of these nanotubes,

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it will change its electrical properties,

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based on the amount of protein present.

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However, there's a catch.

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These networks of carbon[br]nanotubes are extremely flimsy.

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And since they're so delicate,[br]they need to be supported.

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So that's why I chose to use paper.

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Making a cancer sensor[br]out of paper is about as simple

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as making chocolate chip[br]cookies, which I love.

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(Laughs)

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You start with some water,[br]pour in some nanotubes,

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add antibodies, mix it up,[br]take some paper, dip it, dry it,

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and you can detect cancer.

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(Applause)

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Then, suddenly, a thought occurred

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that kind of put a blemish[br]on my amazing plan here.

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I can't really do cancer research[br]on my kitchen countertop.

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My mom wouldn't really like that.

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So instead, I decided to go for a lab.

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So I typed up a budget, a materials list,[br]a timeline, and a procedure,

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and I emailed it[br]to 200 different professors

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at Johns Hopkins University[br]and the National Institutes of Health --

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essentially, anyone that had anything[br]to do with pancreatic cancer.

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I sat back waiting for these[br]positive emails to be pouring in,

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saying, "You're a genius![br]You're going to save us all!"

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And --

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(Laughter)

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Then reality took hold,[br]and over the course of a month,

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I got 199 rejections[br]out of those 200 emails.

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One professor even went[br]through my entire procedure,

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painstakingly -- I'm not really[br]sure where he got all this time --

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and he went through and said[br]why each and every step

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was like the worst mistake[br]I could ever make.

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Clearly, the professors did not have[br]as high of an opinion of my work as I did.

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However, there is a silver lining.

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One professor said, "Maybe I might[br]be able to help you, kid."

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So, I went in that direction.

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(Laughter)

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As you can never say no to a kid.

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And so then, three months later,

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I finally nailed down[br]a harsh deadline with this guy,

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and I get into his lab, I get[br]all excited, and then I sit down,

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I start opening my mouth and talking,

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and five seconds later,[br]he calls in another Ph.D.

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Ph.D.s just flock into this little room,

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and they're just firing[br]these questions at me,

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and by the end, I kind of felt[br]like I was in a clown car.

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There were 20 Ph.D.s,[br]plus me and the professor

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crammed into this tiny office space,

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with them firing these[br]rapid-fire questions at me,

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trying to sink my procedure.

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How unlikely is that? I mean, pshhh.

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(Laughter)

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However, subjecting myself[br]to that interrogation --

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I answered all their questions,[br]and I guessed on quite a few

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but I got them right --

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and I finally landed[br]the lab space I needed.

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But it was shortly afterwards that[br]I discovered my once brilliant procedure

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had something like a million holes in it,

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and over the course of seven months,

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I painstakingly filled[br]each and every one of those holes.

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The result?

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One small paper sensor that costs[br]three cents and takes five minutes to run.

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This makes it 168 times faster,

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over 26,000 times less expensive,

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and over 400 times more sensitive[br]than our current standard

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for pancreatic cancer detection.

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(Applause)

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One of the best parts[br]of the sensor, though,

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is that it has close[br]to 100 percent accuracy,

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and can detect the cancer[br]in the earliest stages,

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when someone has close[br]to 100 percent chance of survival.

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And so in the next two to five years,

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this sensor could potentially lift[br]the pancreatic cancer survival rates

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from a dismal 5.5 percent[br]to close to 100 percent,

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and it would do similar[br]for ovarian and lung cancer.

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But it wouldn't stop there.

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By switching out that antibody,

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you can look at a different protein,[br]thus, a different disease --

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potentially any disease[br]in the entire world.

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So that ranges from heart disease,[br]to malaria, HIV, AIDS,

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as well as other forms[br]of cancer -- anything.

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And so, hopefully one day,

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we can all have that one extra uncle,

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that one mother, that one brother, sister,

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we can have that one more[br]family member to love.

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And that our hearts will be rid[br]of that one disease burden

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that comes from pancreatic,[br]ovarian and lung cancer,

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and potentially any disease.

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But through the Internet,[br]anything is possible.

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Theories can be shared,

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and you don't have to be[br]a professor with multiple degrees

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to have your ideas valued.

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It's a neutral space, where[br]what you look like, age or gender --

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it doesn't matter.

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It's just your ideas that count.

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For me, it's all about looking[br]at the Internet in an entirely new way,

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to realize that there's so much more to it

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than just posting duck-face[br]pictures of yourself online.

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(Laughter)

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You could be changing the world.

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So if a 15 year-old who didn't even know[br]what a pancreas was

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could find a new way[br]to detect pancreatic cancer --

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just imagine what you could do.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)