At just 13 years old, Camarria Williams has made a remarkable scientific discovery.
While participating in the Chicago Antibiotic Discovery Lab, the eighth-grader from William H. Brown STEM Magnet School uncovered a cancer-fighting compound in an unlikely source: goose droppings collected from Garfield Park Lagoon.
Camarria, along with six other middle school students, joined the 14-week STEM outreach program led by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Brian Murphy.
When Camarria Williams, 13, stumbled upon goose poop in a neighborhood park, she enthusiastically scooped some up. She soon learned, with university researchers’ help, that her goose poop contained a cancer-fighting compound. https://t.co/urn6XcYsOW
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 22, 2024
Designed to expose underserved students to careers in biomedical sciences, the program partners with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago to teach participants how medicines, including antibiotics, are discovered.
“The premise of our program is to teach students how many medicines are discovered,” Murphy, a professor at UIC, told The Washington Post. “By involving students in our own research, we aim to show them a pathway to careers in the biomedical sciences.”
For Camarria, the journey began with a simple curiosity about bacteria.