Innovative Minds: Sydney Zhang
Mesa Verde Middle School | 8th grade | 13 years old
Developing a Low-Cost, High-Sensitivity Method for Early Diagnosis of Dry Eye Diseases
About the Idea
Meet Sydney. Sydney developed a low-cost, high-sensitivity method for early diagnosis of dry eye disease (DED).
Why did you enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge?
Two years ago, I watched 3M Young Scientist Challenge videos, and, encouraged by these young scientists, I started to read many books and websites for scientific research, particularly in the area of biology. My parents supported me in building a small lab in our garage and little by little, I started to develop my own project.
What is your favorite invention of the last 100 years, and why?
CRISPR Cas-9 is my favorite discovery of the last 100 years because it has revolutionized the world of gene-editing. CRISPR Cas-9 can precisely cut and edit certain genes which makes it a very powerful tool to cure many harmful diseases. It can potentially lead us to treat most if not all diseases such as cancer, malaria, and AIDS, etc.
In 15 years I hope to be...
exploring the endless discoveries published by scientists in the exciting field of gene-editing. I want to be a great scientist, and someday I will make my contribution.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein