Like most Canadians, the Winnipeg family of Siyuan (Sam) Cheng has been touched by cancer. So this Grade 12 student set himself the task of researching new cancer treatments as his sanofi-aventis Biotalent Challenge.

And he successfully tested two unique treatment ideas for an incurable form of leukemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common adult leukemia and some patients have an aggressive form of the disease that is often resistant to standard drug treatments. Siyuan combined the standard CLL drug treatment with a lung cancer drug to greatly increase the numbers of leukemia cells being killed.

“I was also able to use low dosages of both drugs, which results in less side effects,” he says.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Fort Richmond Collegiate student went on to test three different bacterial toxins to see if they might offer low-cost and effective cancer treatments. And, in fact, the toxins did kill the cancer cells and one was particularly effective.

“Bacterial toxins are very easily produced and if this treatment method is refined, it could be a new way of treating cancer,” says the young would-be scientist.

Siyuan’s research “offers hope that effective therapies for leukaemia can be developed,” says mentor Dr Spencer Gibson, Acting Director, Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology at the University of Manitoba and Provincial Director, Research CancerCare Manitoba.

“Siyuan was a joy to have in the lab. He acted and performed at a level equal to a graduate student in my laboratory,” says Dr. Gibson.

“My dream is to work in the medical field and I have friends and family who have been affected by cancer,” he says.

“The most surprising thing I learned was that real life science is completely different than a high school science lab,” says Siyuan, who adds that being able to apply what you know if far more important than memorizing facts for a test.

Dr. Gibson has warmly welcomed Siyuan back to his lab for the summer to continue his work on understanding how cancer treatments work.