Camarria Williams: Eighth-Grader Discovers Cancer-Fighting Compound in Goose Poop

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.

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.

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