Out of the mouths of babes |

Hold on- not only out of the mouths of babes- but from Frisco, Texas (part of the DFW [Dallas-Fort Worth] Metroplex) to boot.

A little background, first.

3M- what used to be known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (come on, we old farts still remember the giants of our youth)- has been one of the premier, innovating firms for decades. (It was even named one of the most innovative companies as recently as 2019 by Fast Company.)

Sure you know it as the Scotch Tape and Post-It company- but those were darned innovative in their day (and still are). But, before WWI, it provided the world with the Three-M-Ite Abrasive cloth, which blew away the sandpaper business. And, recording tape (as in tape recorders), fabric protection (Scotchgard), restorative dental fillings (no more metal), respirators (predating the N95- which was also their), Tegaderm dressing to protect catheters- and many more great ideas.

But, since 1999, 3M has been challenging middle school students (grades 5 to 8) to investigate the world, thereby developing an appreciation for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) across the US. The 3M Young Scientist Challenge obtained a new partner in 2008 (Discovery Education) to promote the program. The key difference in this challengecompared to the Regeneron National Science Fair is that 3M assigns one of their own creatives to work with the students on their project.

This year, the big winner is Anika Chebrolu (age 15) from Independence High School. (This award comes with a $ 25K cash prize, too.) What did Anika do? She scoured a chemical database seeking out something that would bind to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, hopefully altering its shape. And, when this compound is attached to the coronavirus, the culprit is rendered incapable of binding to human cells. In other words- it can stop the SARS-CoV-2 from infecting other cells in the body. (The spike is ‘defanged’.) A potential treatment!

Yeah. With all the bucks being spent by firms around the world looking for a treatment (and a vaccine) with the best and brightest PhD’s- Anika bested them all in the confines of her home in Frisco, TX. With the help of Dr. Mahfuzi Ali (Organic Chemist in 3M’s Materials Resource Division. [She is no slouch herself- having developed some quaternary monomers and polymers, specialty thermoplastics, and ink-receptive polymers.])

(By the way, Chebrolu’s first efforts were aimed at the flu virus [and the 1918 pandemic] to reduce the 60000 deaths in the US from the infection- but once the pandemic became the rage, she adjusted her research topic. And, Anika thinks she had an easier time because school over the past year has been virtual, which left her more time for the project.)

Chebrolu used computational research processes to identify the potential antivirals. No, Anika didn’t play around with the virus itself.(That would be pretty darned dangerous to do in the confines of one’s home. Instead, she employed software modeling and simulations of molecular docking [in-silico; which means under glass- back when I was younger we called this an in vitro investigation, as opposed to in vivo [real live life]) . Anika isn’t the only one using such methods- it is among the choice processes used by Big Pharma and universities. (The article below is but one example.)

It was still the flu she was studying when she competed in the Dallas Regional Science Fair. Once she set her sights on the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the Coronavirus Pandemic was all the rage, so she adjusted her target organism- for a much larger potential impact.

Anika is the sort of person we need to get involved in STEM. And, her words- from an interview after winning the competition- serve as an inspiration.

To all the girls out there, just keep on going. Keep on pushing. Keep your curiosity. Always make sure to take any opportunity that you see and go for it. Just keep on going, because you never know where you’re going to end up.

Congratulations to Aniku Chebrolu. (And to Dr. Mahfuzi Ali, her mentor!)