10th Grader Invents Tool for Earlier Cancer Detection, Nabs PETA Award

A high school sophomore has developed a device that may help doctors better detect cancer in its early stages without invasive and painful biopsies—and he did it without harming a single animal. PETA awarded Daniel Suh, a student at Los Angeles’ Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, a $1,000 prize and our Special Award for Humane Science for his nanowire device that detects circulating tumor cells.

PETA Director Justin Goodman presents Daniel with a framed plaque and $1,000 prize.

Daniel worked with researchers at the University of California–Los Angeles’ California NanoSystems Institute on the screening device, which can detect breast and prostate cancer cells in the blood. Doctors can then harvest the cells for analysis and test potential cancer treatments.

Daniel, who presented his work at the Los Angeles County Science Fair, joins a forward-thinking group of students who have earned recognition from PETA for showing the scientific community that modern non-animal research methods are advancing medical science much more than hurting animals ever could.