Camarria Williams, a Chicago middle schooler, has uncovered a cancer-fighting compound in goose poop.
The droppings that the 13-year-old collected contained a novel compound that scientists at the University of Illinois Chicago found to be toxic to human skin and ovarian cancer cells.
STEM Program For Underserved Communities
Williams made the discovery while attending the Chicago Antibiotic Discovery Lab—a 14-week STEM outreach program at the Boys and Girls Club in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago. In a class assignment, she learned how to isolate bacteria and program a robot to catalog and track antimicrobial activity.
She was drawn to the program for its unique hands-on experiences for local STEM students. “We walked around and they had these chemicals, and they were working on something. It was just fun,” she told the Chicago Tribune. “I just want to go out and find stuff and see what it can do.”…