14-year-old student invents soap to treat skin cancer and is awarded $25,000

Heman Bekele, 14 years old, won the "America's Top Young Scientist" award and was awarded $25,000 after inventing a soap to treat skin cancer .

According to Fox News, the idea of ​​making soap to treat skin cancer of a student at WT Woodson High School in Fairfax County (FCPS), Virginia (USA) originated from his memories when he was in his native Ethiopia. : I see people working long hours under the bright sunlight.

Heman Bekele at the awards ceremony and final presentation of the "3M Young Scientist Challenge", where he won the award "America's Top Young Scientist" - (Photo: 3M).

Through research, Bekele learned that skin cancer is detected mostly in people living in developing countries.

The boy began researching skin cancer, specifically  dendritic cells  that help the immune system attack cancer cells.

I used a variety of ingredients - including salicylic acid, glycolic acid and tretinoin - to create a soap that stimulates dendritic cells .

One of the biggest challenges is keeping the soap from falling apart into pieces. Finally, Bekele uses a mixture of moisturizer, coconut oil and organic pure butter to create the finished soap bar.

Bekele said this research process has taught her the meaning of perseverance. 

My bar of soap costs only 0.5 USD compared to the average price for a skin cancer treatment of 40,000 USD.

Eric D. Whitman, medical director of Atlantic Health System Cancer Care in New Jersey, said Bekele's invention "creates a topical immune activator that may help treat or prevent some skin cancers'.

During the research process, Bekele received support from teachers, researchers from the University of Virginia and the support of her parents.

Bekele plans to use the prize money to patent his soap and save it for later in college.