Inspiring Young Scientist. He's just 14. This scientist developed a soap that could help fight skin cancer.

I’m thrilled to share the incredible achievement of Heman Bekele, a ninth grader at W.T. Woodson High School in #Annandale, #Virginia. Heman has recently clinched the prestigious 2023, 3M Young Scientists Challenge, securing the grand prize of $25,000. What’s truly remarkable is that this young genius has invented a soap with the potential to treat skin cancer.

Rather than spending his free time playing video games or staring at his phone, this 14-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia was calling professors and conducting experiments, all to invent a product he hoped could help change the world.

His goal is to create a soap that could treat skin cancer and make it affordable for everyone who needs it. Each bar of this groundbreaking soap costs a mere $0.50, making it not only innovative but also accessible.

His work won him the grand prize in this year's?3M Young Scientist's Challenge, a competition that encourages kids to think of unique ways to solve everyday problems.

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Bekele's award-winning soap was inspired by his childhood in Ethiopia before moving to the United States at the age of 4. The soap delivers cancer-fighting drugs via lipid nanoparticles – which work to activate the body's immune cells to fend off cancer.

Congratulations on winning the 3M Young Scientist's challenge! How did you first get into science and what inspired you to make your cancer-fighting soap?

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I've always been passionate about science and how things work. Then, slowly, as I grew up, that curiosity started to develop into something more. Growing up in Ethiopia, I always thought people were always getting hit by the hot sun working outside. I didn't think much of it when I was really little, but as I grew up I realized how big of an issue [skin cancer] really is. Not only in Ethiopia but everywhere around the world.