Teen Honored for Advancing Cancer Study

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina high schooler beat out 1,600 others nationwide to win a $100,000 scholarship Tuesday for developing a model she used to identify stage II colon cancer patients at a high risk for recurrence.

The model created by Shivani Sud, 17, also focused on identifying what may be the most effective drugs for treatment for those with a high risk of recurring tumors, according to organizers of the annual Intel Science Talent Search.

Sud, a senior at Jordan High School in Durham, was named the winner of the competition at an awards banquet in Washington, D.C., where 40 finalists have been showing their projects in competition for top honors.

More than 1,600 high school seniors entered the talent search with a wide range of projects, including one that identified more efficient solar cells for energy production and another that looked at the effects of a common pesticide on breast cancer and nerve cell degeneration.

The 67-year-old science search competition has previously awarded top honors to students who went on to win six Nobel Prizes, three National Medals of Science, 10 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.

Sud developed a 50-gene model for predicting recurrences of stage II colon cancer, in which the cancer has spread into nearby tissue. Using public information including 125 patient samples and clinical data, she identified genetic markers that allowed her to characterize various types of tumors.

Doctors generally use visual information, such as size, to characterize a tumor.

The model also allowed Sud to identify the drugs that may be the most effective way to treat those tumors. Such a system would allow doctors to save the most aggressive or toxic therapy for those who need it most, said Dr. Andrew M. Yeager, chairman of the judging panel and a professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

''The idea is that if someone was diagnosed with cancer, their tumor could be analyzed to find what specific genes are abnormally expressed, and then look at potential targets for therapy,'' Yeager said.

Sud said she was motivated in part by personal experience.

''One of my immediate family members had a benign brain tumor. It left a big emotional imprint on me,'' said Sud, adding that an internship also introduced her to other patients, one of whom was a girl facing a nerve disorder with her mother.

''Seeing a mother and daughter together and the prospect of losing each other reminded me of my family member,'' she said. ''It reminded me that life is something you shouldn't take for granted.''

Along with her research work, Sud represents students at school board meetings, works as a Teen Court student attorney, serves as a Durham Rescue Mission volunteer and performs classical and modern Indian dance. She said she wants to have a career in research, and hopes to attend Princeton University or Harvard University.

But for now, she has more immediate matters to tend to: ''I have a lot of homework to catch up on.''

The other nine scholarship winners were Graham Van Schaik, 17, of Columbia, S.C., $75,000; Brian McCarthy, 18, of Hillsboro, Ore., $50,000; Katherine Banks, 17, of New York, $25,000; Eric Delgado, 18, of Bayonne, N.J., $25,000; David Rosengarten, 18, of Great Neck, N.Y., $25,000; Xiaomeng (Jessica) Zeng, 18, of Iowa City, Iowa, $20,000; Philip Mocz, 18, of Mililani, Hawaii, $20,000; Alexis Mychajliw, 16, of Port Washington, N.Y., $20,000; and Evan Mirts, 18, of Jefferson City, Mo., $20,000.

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