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June 5, 2009
Tutelman brings home gold
Vancouver student shines as a national superstar scientist.
MICHELLE DODEK
"People say that children are the future," said 15-year-old science superstar Perri Tutelman in a recent interview, "and they're right! Just look at the scientific research kids are doing at the Canada Wide Science Fair and you'll see the future of society." Tutelman is still floating following her gold medal victory at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Winnipeg. Held from May 9 to 17, the contest had 500 of the country's brightest minds exhibiting their research.
"Science fairs have always had such a nerdy aura but this research is life changing and world changing," said Tutelman. For example, the winner of the Best in Fair Platinum Award created a hybrid wheelchair, and there was another contestant who found a way to improve plant growth by 50 per cent. She is patenting her work.
For her part, Tutelman is also working toward making the world a lot better – for sufferers of breast cancer. She was thrilled to be able to participate in the Canada Wide Science Fair so she could make connections with other teenagers who are into science. "We stayed in residence at the University of Manitoba and there were some girls from Quebec on our floor. They were so different from us in many ways, but we all had science in common," commented Tutelman. She made friends as well as research contacts. "Facebook is a great way for us all to keep in touch," she said.
The science fair experience also afforded her opportunities to meet experts in various fields of science with which she is not as familiar. "I'm a biologist, not an engineer," she noted when discussing the work on prosthesis that a competitor at the fair had done. Tutelman found personal gratification in finding a community of like-minded teenagers, as well as industry professionals, who understand her love of scientific research. "Of course, my parents and teachers are going to say what I'm doing is great," she smiled. "But when I'm at the science fair, people really understand what I'm doing."
Her gold medal research focuses on combining an herb, artemisinin, long used in the treatment of malaria, with two established chemotherapy treatments to increase the efficiency of treatment and reduce side effects. Although she has certainly explained her research hundreds of times, Tutelman's excitement was still evident when describing the three stages of the cell cycle and how each drug attacks the cells at different stages.
She explained that, in the first stage, known as G1, the artemisinin is attracted to the cancer cells because of their rapid growth and need for lots of blood and, therefore, iron, which is for what the artemisinin seems to be looking. In the second phase, the DNA is replicating and the 5-Flourouracil creates false building blocks for those cells and, in G2m, the final stage, the slow-growing cells are attacked by docetaxcel, the other treatment. Each treatment causes eventual cell death, ridding the body of the cancer cells. Using a variety of treatments improves results because there is less resistance to the treatments and the dosages can be lower for each one, therefore reducing harmful side effects of these toxic treatments.
The ease with which this 15-year-old throws around terms like cytotoxicity and mytosis shows she is on track for something great. "Definitely medicine, probably pediatrics," confirmed Tutelman. "I love the research side, but I'm a people person." This summer, she'll be working, as she did last year, at the Steveston Community Centre with special needs kids for five weeks. She feels that being knowledgeable about the research side of treatment will be beneficial when working to help people. It's obvious that the skills she has gained from presenting her complex research will be a boon when explaining anything medical to future patients as well.
Tutelman is still only in Grade 10, however, so she needs to come up with more research in order to continue her journey in the science fair arena. "I'm discussing a new idea with my mentor that will incorporate my knowledge and apply it to a new situation," she said secretively. She wouldn't say more on the topic but hopes to continue with more complex research.
"Perri will come home next year with the Platinum Award," said her proud mother, Julie. But the young scientist is humble and pragmatic. "I find science fascinating," she said. "My Grade 9 science teacher at King David High School said I'd been bitten by the science bug, and I guess he was right."
Tutelman went on to say that, while she loves biology and being part of the movement to change our attitudes and outcomes toward cancer, she feels strongly that people need to find their own passion and go for it. "There's so much more to life than school," she said. "Sure, marks are very important, but the experiences I've had have been so important to me."
If Tutelman has her way, her experiences may even prove to be beneficial for the legions of women who battle breast cancer every year.
Michelle Dodek had the tremendous good fortune to teach Perri before becoming a mom and freelance writer.
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