Amit Scheer, a 15 year old high school student from Colonel By Secondary School, is a Science whiz kid from Barrhaven. He is no stranger to hard work and dedication to his project, and works long hours; rivaling most graduate students. His enthusiasm for Science knows no bounds and provides the drive to see him through the “thick-and-thin” of challenges and barriers that often present themselves in experimentation. Amit has been mentored by Dr. William Willmore (Biochemistry, Carleton University) and was supported at school by Colonel By science teacher Darren Yip. He placed first in his regional category (Intermediate – Health Sciences; Partners in Research Challenge Award Winner) in the Ottawa Regional Science Fair (ORSF). In 2013, Amit was chosen as one of the 90 worldwide finalists for the Google Science Fair, the world’s largest online science fair, for a separate project also under the mentorship of Dr. Willmore. This year, he is also one of 12 Canadian students (Team Canada) who will be participating in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, in May 2014. He will be competing against 1,600 high schools from 70 countries in this year’s competition. He has been featured on CTV News, Daytime Ottawa and CBC News Ottawa.
Amit has also received the First Place Award in the Sanofi BioGENius Challenge (SBCC) Canada that had their Eastern Ontario Regional Competition and Awards Ceremony at the Canada Science and Technology Museum April 28th, 2014. The SBCC is Canada’s only national biotechnology competition for high school students, with mentors from Canada’s top universities and research institutes. “The SBCC provides high school students from across Canada the chance to pour their creativity, curiosity and scientific skills into cutting-edge research projects that tackle some of the day’s toughest challenges—from cancer and Alzheimer’s disease to crops and the environment” (http://sanofibiogeneiuschallenge.ca/). The SBCC is sponsored by Sanofi, Sanofi Pasteur, the National Research Council of Canada, York University, Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Centre for Drug Research and Development.
Amit’s project is using a unique combination of nanotechnology and DNA to target breast cancer cells for death while leaving normal breast cells unharmed. The nanotechnology is quantum dots, a nanocrystal made of semiconductor materials that absorb UV light and emit visible light of different colours (red, green, yellow, blue); the colour emitted being depending upon their overall diameter. Quantum dots are currently used in transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and diode lasers. They have also investigated for use in medical imaging, as well as possible qubits in quantum computing. They have a diameter between 5 and 10 nanometres and can pass easily into any cell that they encounter. As part of their structure is made of cadmium, their widespread industrial use came into question in terms of their toxicity. In a recent study published in the journal Toxicology (KC Nguyen, WG Willmore and AF Tayabali. Toxicology 306 (2013) 114– 123), quantum dots have been shown to be indeed toxic due to their production of highly damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells; particularly when light activated. Amit asked the question “if these quantum dots could be targeted specifically to cancer cells, their production of ROS could kill the cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed”. In collaboration with Drs. Maria DeRosa (Chemistry, Carleton University), Patrice Smith (Neuroscience, Carleton University) and Azam Tayabali (Toxicology, Health Canada), Amit has been linking DNA “aptamers” that recognize specific markers on breast cancer cells to the quantum dots. DNA aptamers are single-stranded DNA molecules that recognize and bind to specific molecules (large or small). Using known aptamers that recognize specific targets (proteins) on the surface of human breast cancer cells, Amit has found that quantum dots can be specifically taken up by the cancer cell and not a control non-cancerous breast cell line. Once within the cell, the quantum dots cause cancer cell death by a process known as apoptosis.
Like a seasoned researcher, Amit is careful at the same time to utilize all of the controls necessary to show that the effects are specific to the aptamer-quantum dot fusion. This includes, not only the use of the non-cancerous breast line, but also the use of quantum dots and aptamer alone (i.e. not fused). “The results were rather surprising” commented Dr. Willmore, his Carleton University mentor. “It is always nice to get a positive result. Amit is brilliant young student with lots of his own innovative ideas”. Amit has stated that he is interested in becoming a medical researcher as a future career. We will be following Amit’s progress, as well as his exciting results, in the months to come.