A 12 year old in Georgia has made discoveries about the cancer-fighting properties of green tea. For Georgia’s Science and Engineering Fair, Stephen Litt divided 100 worms into 4 groups. From his reading, he thought that a chemical called EGCG, found in green tea, could prevent tumor formation in the worms exposed to chemicals that cause cancer (carcinogens). Over 4 weeks, Stephen exposed one group to the EGCG. The second group was exposed to EGCG for a day and then to carcinogens for the rest of the experiment. The third group was only exposed to carcinogens. The fourth group was the control group and only exposed to spring water. After observing the worms under a microscope, Stephen saw that the worms that were exposed to EGCG and the carcinogens had no tumors. What a neat experiment!
His results landed him an invitation to visit the research laboratories at Tufts University. He is looking forward to working in lab himself, and destroying cancer cells. Great project!
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