Meet Iris Shen, the 17-year-old Texas student who tested potential blood-cancer drugs in clams; one treatment behaved similarly to human-cell tests and her research won $150,000

In what is dubbed America’s longest-running and most distinguished science and math competition, a 17-year-old has won the third prize. Iris Shen, a native of Woodlands, Texas, received $150,000 for testing a potential cancer drug in clams to see if they could serve as an animal model for blood cancer drug discovery. In the clams, the drug had a similar effect to what researchers observe in human cells. She also tested a mix of other potential cancer drugs, which slowed the clams’ tumour growth, according to a statement by the Society for Science.Shen, a student at The Woodlands College Park High School, studied whether a marine clam with a naturally occurring blood cancer can be used to study human leukaemia drugs for her Regeneron Science Talent Search animal sciences project. Typically, animal models of cancer are costly, time-sensitive and have ethical implications. In her project, Shen tested how clams respond to a potential cancer drug. She found that in clams, the drug had the same effect it does in human cells: fewer cancer cells stayed alive, tumours had a smaller proportion of cancer cells and the cells’ fat levels changed in similar ways.In a second experiment, Iris tested a mixture of two other compounds in clams. She found that it slowed tumour growth without negative effects on non-tumour cells. Iris’s clam model could help make early drug discovery more cost-effective and ethical.Animal testing has been a point of heated debate in the last several decades and in the US alone 5 million vertebrate animals are sacrificed for the purpose of animal testing. “This becomes especially staggering when you consider the fact that out of all of the drugs that pass through all the stages of animal testing, less than 10% actually find success in human trials due to random side effects like vomiting and nausea that weren’t presented in our animal models,” said Shen in her video for the project.When it comes to Leukemia as well, the problem persists and this is where her project comes in. “The interesting thing about marine bivalves is that they can develop a disease called disseminated neoplasia. This is a blood cancer that occurs in the hemolymph fluid, within their circulatory systems, and it’s transmissible,” she explained. Thus, Shen wanted to figure out if the blood cancer in clams and humans overlapped in protein anywhere.She focused her research on BCL-2 family proteins, which are emerging targets for cancer therapies since they are overexpressed in over half of all human cancers. They are linked to tumorigenesis, increased resistance to chemotherapy and poor prognosis. “Currently, some treatments being developed for targeting BCL-2 include BH3 mimetics, and that is the cancer drug I worked with in my experiment,” shared Shen.Her project is also accessible, since just like human cells, the tumours can also be identified in clams through tissues and more lipid accumulation.Beyond the project, Shen is the president of Teach 2 Learn, a nonprofit that hosts biweekly STEM events at local middle schools, ranging from science fair prep to computer science workshops. She is also a pianist and an artist. Her art has been auctioned to raise funds for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Educational Fund.As for the Regeneron Science Talent Search (Regeneron STS), it was started in 1942 as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. It recognises and empowers America’s most promising young scientists who are developing ideas that could solve society’s most urgent challenges. Each year, nearly 1,900 students enter the Regeneron STS, submitting original research in critically important scientific fields of study.