Next time you catch your child playing chemist by mixing up a soup of various bath soaps and shampoos, don’t be too quick to scold. They could be in self-training to invent cures for cancer.
That’s how Heman Bekele started, and by tenth grade, he was being recognized for an incredible accomplishment: inventing a soap that could be effective in treating skin cancer.
The 15-Year-Old Is Recognized For His Cancer-Treating Accomplishment
Heman Bekele was named the winner of the 3M and Discovery Education’s Young Scientist challenge in 2023, a prize that includes prominent acknowledgment and $25,000. He was recently named Time Magazine‘s Kid Of The Year for 2024 thanks to his remarkable accomplishment.
The teenager has accomplished one of the incredible feats of modern medicine: creating a substance that can treat and possibly even prevent certain forms of cancer in the form of a bar of soap. It’s only the beginning of his aspirations, though.
Check out his Time interview below.
Bekele’s Soap Could Treat & Prevent Melanoma
Don’t head to your local pharmacy looking for the product just yet. While Heman Bekele’s invention is promising, it won’t hit shelves for years.
The product (called Melanoma-Treating Soap, or MTS) works, according to NPR, by “deliver[ing] cancer- fighting drugs via lipid nanoparticles” — and could potentially make preventing or treating melanoma a lot more accessible for patients.
Bekele, who moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia at age 4, says that his childhood inspired the invention. He told NPR:
“Growing up in Ethiopia, I always thought people were always getting hit by the hot sun working outside. I didn’t think much of it when I was really little, but as I grew up I realized how big of an issue [skin cancer] really is. Not only in Ethiopia but everywhere around the world.”
While some treatments and cures can usually be effective against skin cancer, the price can be devastating, running to tens of thousands of dollars. Bekele hopes that his invention will make treatment more affordable.
Heman Bekele Started As A Curious Kid Having Fun
His Time profile describes some of Bekele’s first experiments, in which, as young as age 4, he mixed household products like dish soap and laundry detergent. He hid them under his bed to see if they’d do anything interesting overnight.
He received his first chemistry set before he turned 7, though, and a dangerous incident resulted. He read that mixing aluminum and sodium hydroxide could create heat, and he gave it a shot. Even then, Bekele was thinking about improving the world. He explained:
“I thought that this could be a solution to energy, to making an unlimited supply…But I almost started a fire.”
The Teen Is Still Working To Help Others
Bekele has spent his summer working in a lab at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He will continue developing his product there during the school year, albeit on a reduced schedule, as he’s heading into 10th grade and will have plenty on his plate academically.
He’s working out a way to take a chemical called imiquimod, which has also been used in antifungals and acne treatments. It is currently being researched in cancer treatment, and Bekele hopes to deliver the chemical via lipids in a bar of soap. He says the product is rather strong-smelling but “isn’t the worst” and that the bar has a sticky feel because even after rinsing, the medication is intended to stay on your skin.
He also believes the bar may be an effective exfoliant because of its rougher texture.
His Future Goals Are Outside The Medical Field
While Bekele is enjoying the work of developing an effective cancer treatment, his current long-term plans involve a different field of research. Instead, he hopes to develop innovations that will change technology and electrical systems. He told 3M’s Young Scientist Lab:
“In 15 years I hope to be [a] successful electrical engineer who has contributed significantly to the industry. I envision myself leading a team of professionals in the development of innovative electrical systems that will shape the future of technology.”
Is Your Child An Aspiring Scientist, Too?
The Young Scientist Challenge is held every year, and applications open in January. If your child would like to enter, they’ll need to record a 1-2 minute video explaining a solution they envision to an everyday problem.
The video doesn’t need to be of high production quality. Judges are looking for quality in content and ideas, not in the ability to access and use the best equipment or editing software.
The top ten finalists can join a summer mentorship, and each will receive a $1,000 prize. The top winner will be declared America’s Top Young Scientist and receive the larger $25k prize. Additional winners can receive certificates and prize packs. Read more about the Young Scientist Challenge here.
