16-year-old Marshall Zhang has created a drug compound that could provide an effective treatment for cystic fibrosis.
In recent decades, there have been many advances in treating cystic fibrosis (CF), a hereditary disease that reduces lung function significantly. In the past, patients with CF only lived a few years; now, the average life expectancy has risen to the mid-30s, with many CF patients surviving well beyond that point. And now, there’s even more hope in the fight against CF—thanks to a 16-year-old student from Toronto.
Marshall Zhang, 16, took first prize at a national science contest for his invention: a drug cocktail that works together to correct the genetic defects caused by CF. He used the sophisticated computer modeling system at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children to identify how two compounds would interact with a protein called Delta F508, which is responsible for most cases of CF.
“The two compounds were working together synergistically to correct that disease-causing defect,” Zhang told CTV.
“But beyond that, I’ve also laid a foundation for future structure-based drug design, in identifying certain chemical structures that have a key role in correcting that defect.”
He then took his computer modeling conclusions into the lab, testing the solution on living CF cells in a culture. On the very first try, the cells responded to the solution as if they were normal cells.
“It was just like ‘Wow’. You don’t believe what you’re seeing. It was amazing. It’s really rare for an experiment to work on the first time,” he said.
Zhang’s solution hasn’t yet been tested on actual CF patients, and he claims that, because of testing requirements, a drug could still be 15 years down the line. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting development—and given Zhang’s young age, he’s likely to make many more valuable contributions to the medical world in the years to come.