A 15-year-old boy from Virginia, USA has made headlines with an extraordinary breakthrough: a soap that could treat skin cancer. His groundbreaking invention has not only garnered him praise from the scientific community but has also recently earned him the “Kid of the Year” title from TIME Magazine.
Heman Bekele, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, shared that his inspiration for developing the Skin Cancer Treating Soap, or simply SCTS, stemmed from his experiences growing up in Ethiopia, where he observed many people working long hours under the relentless sun and enduring its harsh heat.
“I did not think that much of it at a really young age, but now that I’ve grown up and kind of realized the damages and the consequences of UV radiation for such long periods of time,” he said in a CNN interview. “I was really inspired to take action not only to create a form of treatment, but also to make it affordable and accessible so that everybody could use it,” he added.
He explained that SCTS works by using this promising drug called imiquimod, which wraps around a lipid-based nanoparticle that stays on the skin even after the soap was washed away. imiquimod is a type of drug already used in treating one form of skin cancer as well as other skin-related diseases. Heman decided to incorporate it into a bar soap because he wanted a solution that could be accessible to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic class.
“It’s a more affordable and accessible alternative to modern skin cancer treatments. That’s what I aimed to achieve by creating SCTS,” said Heman.
Since his innovative idea came to life 2 1/2 years ago, the project has “gradually progressed to where it is now.” Currently, Heman remains dedicated to his research alongside molecular biologist Vito Rebecca, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They have been testing the soap on mice by injecting them with skin cancer strains and then applying the lipid-bound, imiquimod-infused soap to assess the results.
“I feel happy and gratified for this experience, but then I also feel really inspired and motivated because I’m just 15 years old and this experience does show that as young as you are, your ideas can still be heard,” he said.
Heman hopes that within the next five years, he will turn his passion project into a nonprofit organization, aiming to provide equitable and accessible skin cancer treatment to as many people as possible.
Skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer worldwide. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, the United States has the highest rates of skin cancer, with at least one in every five Americans expected to develop the disease by the age of 70.
