September 16, 2024
A 15-year-old boy named Heman Bekele has been named ‘TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year’ for innovating a soap that could be beneficial in the treatment of different forms of skin cancer. Bekele, who was born in Ethiopia, had a deep passion for science and was enthusiastic about learning and conducting experiments. He came up with the idea of using imiquimod, a drug employed in the treatment of several skin conditions including skin cancer, along with lipid-based nanoparticles to create a soap with the potential to treat the disease. He won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge for his innovative idea in 2023 and secured $25,000 as prize money. Bekele is currently in the process of creating and testing his innovative soap along with a molecular biologist named Vito Rebecca at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA.
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