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Test Kit for Detection of Pancreatic Cancer in its Early Stage Invented by 15-year Old Jack Andraka

May 6, 2013

Jack Andraka, a 15-year old high school freshman in Crownsville, Maryland shocked the world and the whole scientific community when he successfully invented the first ever test kit for detection of pancreatic cancer in its early stage.

A number of Americans as well as Europeans suffer from pancreatic cancer. Some consider this type of cancer as the most lethal since it does not present with any symptoms or signs at the earliest stages. According to surveys, approximately 8,000 people die in the UK with pancreatic cancer while the US has about 45,000 casualties from this deadly disease. Twenty percent of patients could not anymore be operated on by the time of their diagnosis and less than 4 percent live for 5 years after being diagnosed.

Sharing of knowledge

According to Jack, he wrote a letter to 200 professors seeking to have laboratory back up in order to fully materialize his idea on a new way to detect pancreatic cancer. Out of the 200 letters that he wrote and sent, only one returned a reply, Prof. Anirban Maitra. In an interview, the professor said that he was very intrigued about the letter Andraka wrote him. The professor was also surprised that such an idea came from a 15-year old boy. After receiving Jack’s letter, Prof. Maitra invited him for a talk and for some interviews with specialists.

Jack’s newly developed process and apparatus in determining pancreatic cancer is faster and more accurate than that of any other existing methods to date. Not only is it more sensitive and so much more accurate, but it is also very cost efficient with a price tag of only five cents.

Winning the International Science and Engineering Fair

The invention of Jack Andraka in determining pancreatic cancer in the early stage paved the way for him to win last year’s International Science and Engineering Fair that is held yearly in the US. For a 15-year old boy, winning the grand prize of the preeminent event is a huge milestone and a promising leap to his career. His invention won $75,000 and Andraka said that he was both shocked and happy when he learned of his good fortune. According to the young inventor, he did not expect to win any award at all.

Instant celebrity

Winning the Grand Prize made Jack an instant celebrity. He has since then received a couple of invites to appear in public and make speeches. One of the most prominent institutions, the Royal Society of Medicine in London already sent their invitation for him to speak in one of their gatherings. The First Lady Michelle Obama also invited Adraka to the State of the Union Address last February. On the said event, President Barack Obama acknowledged Andraka’s presence and commended him for his awesome achievement.

Funding for more research and development

For young scientists like Andraka, there are foundations that support and give funding to pancreatic cancer research. Just recently, the Seena Mogowitz Foundation donated $500,000 to the Translational Genomics Research Institute to widen and continue the research on the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. The donation came from two charity golf tournaments that the foundation has hosted.

Comment Below

Seth Weissman

So when will the test kit be available? A month? A year? Five years? Would be nice to know that information since the title references that the kit is in its early stages.
Dan Hale

This is a non invasive test, already shown to be 97% accurate at John Hopkins and only costs a few cents to do, versus the existing pancreatic cancer test that cost about a thousand and has a 30% accuracy rate only if your tumor is to progressed to be saved from. Let’s see new test catches it early enough for almost 100% survival and the old test misses 70% of the tumors and there is a 5% survival rate. No I understand what all the delay is about, greed.