Kolkata boys get US invite for their cancer studies

Here is some incredibly inspiring news from Kolkata! Two class XI students of a Kolkata school have won accolades for a research that could lead to an innovative and cost-effective way of treating cancer! Shuvayu Das Gupta and Syed Roshan Ali, classmates at La Martiniere for Boys investigated an artificially synthesized chemical compound CP-31398, that has the capacity to induce death of cancerous hepatic cells instead of killing the good cells. Usually during chemotherapy and radiotherapy, good cells of the body are also killed, leading to various side effects.

The two Kolkata boys presented their research at a Science Fair held by Department of Science and Technology under the Central Government, and won the Society for InVitro Biology Award. They will now represent India at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2018, which happens to be the world’s largest school science fair. This year it will be held in May 2018 at Pittsburgh.

The duo had earlier approached Dr Sushanta Roy Chowdhury, the chief of basic research at Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre. He was touched by the boys’ interest and mentored them. Before leaving for the US, they will be tutored further by Tanya Das, who specialises in cancer stem cell therapy at the Bose Institute. The experiment of the students involves using CP-3398 to make subtle changes in the protein structure of the mutant gene P53, to stop its cell proliferation and cancer.

We wish these youngsters all the best!