13-year-old who saw mom, auntie and grandma battling cancer finds cancer-fighting compound in goose poop
Curiosity and confidence are an exceptional combination that can bring success to new levels. Having the mind to explore and giving your best can often yield memorable and rewarding results. A middle-schooler, Camarria Williams, set out on a scientific adventure and ended up helping her mom and aunt battling cancer, per The Miami Herald. The young student used her intellect and collaborated with the American Chemical Society to make a ground-breaking discovery in fighting cancer. Williams was recruited by the University of Illinois at Chicago for a science program where she could explore the world of science and scientific careers.
It all started with the students’ task to bring in items from outdoors to the Chicago Antibiotic Discovery Lab that would help in some way. Williams came up with something peculiar, not what one would expect to find and get to a lab— goose poop from Garfield Park Lagoon. It was her sheer curiosity and intellect that pushed her to try confidently. Sharing her reason behind finding the same, the student recalled her mum feeding birds, per The Washington Post. “I knew there must be bacteria in it,” she added. As unusual, the same was placed on an agar plate where any elements in the goose poop could remain alive. This was further inspected under a microscope.
After a thorough understanding, researchers were able to discover in the sample, "Pseudomonas idahoensis," a bacteria that has disease-fighting properties. Medicinal chemist Bryan Murphy figured that this sample didn't have antibiotic properties but had something more impressive. “Amazingly, it turns out these particular compounds don’t have antibiotic activity but they do have cytotoxic activity — activity against some cancer cell lines,” he explained. The goose poop also had a new natural element, "orfamide N," which scientists had not observed before, per a published paper. As per their previous investigation, the latter shows potential with useful medical properties. This is what became the hero factor.
In a hopeful study, the bacteria in the goose poop was exposed to human melanoma and human ovarian cancer cells. To everyone’s disbelief, it actually managed to slow down the growth of the cancer cells. “Very, very few natural compounds discovered ever make it into the clinic as drugs,” Murphy noted. He added that this discovery by the middle schooler will be an invaluable contribution. “Compounds like this allow us to understand how cancer works a little better and that allows other groups of scientists to develop better drugs,” he explained.
The American Chemical Society shared a post revealing the news. “One budding scientist found a brand-new compound in a sample only a middle schooler would think to analyze: a piece of goose poop,” the caption read. Though the goose poop and its bacteria have a process to undergo to be deemed fit for use to fight cancer, Williams is delighted to learn that she is an “author” in a ground-breaking find. “My mom, auntie and grandma have all had cancer, so it makes me happy that something I found could help. It makes me want to discover more things out there,” she explained. “I did something, and it worked. It feels good,” she remarked.