A Texas teenager won a $ 25,000 prize for creating a potential COVID-19 cure.
Anika Cebrolu of Independence High School in Frisco has been named America's Best Young Scientist for her efforts to find a cure for coronavirus. A 14-year-old girl has won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge 2020, the nation's premier science competition for high schools.
“I have developed a molecule that can bind to a specific protein of the SARS COVID-2 virus,” says Anika, “and block it.”
The girl says she has tested millions of molecules to see if they are suitable for drug development, and is currently continuing research. It is not yet known whether Cherblu conducted tests on living objects.
Anika describes herself as “a person who always strives for more,” and thanks her grandfather, a professor of chemistry, for her passion for science.
«He helped me learn the elements of the Periodic Table, talked about science — and over time I really fell in love with it.»
The second place went to Kyle Tianshi from San Diego (California), who developed a device that can control the purity of water by monitoring the presence of invisible particles in it. In third place is Lasya Aharya from Ohio, who used a neural network to detect crop diseases.
