A 16-year-old Wins Google Science Fair Prize For Inventing Fastest Ebola Test
Olivia Hallisey was the American 16-year-old wunderkind who won the 2015 Google Science Fair with a project finding the world's fastest method to detect Ebola, according to Tech Insider.
She was awarded the grand prize of $50,000 in scholarship funding, beating 22 contestants.
Her test can offer results in less than half an hour, which would be 24 times quicker than current tests. They can be conducted on even those who show no symptoms.
She is a sophomore at Greenwich High School, and took just $25 to develop it, according to RT.
"Current Ebola detection methods are complex, expensive, require unbroken refrigeration from manufacture to use and up to 12 hours from testing to confirmed diagnosis," said Hallisey. "The [test] provides rapid, inexpensive, accurate detection of Ebola viral antigens based on color change within 30 minutes in individuals prior to their becoming symptomatic and infectious."
Even though the test uses similar chemicals and antibodies as do standard Ebola tests, its use of silk fibers to "stabilize the chemicals on card stock" and permitting them to be effective at room temperature for long removes the need for refrigeration.
The Google Science Fair is held to attract young scientists and inventors from around the world between the ages of 13 and 18, according to TechWorm.
