Scientist Jack Andraka was only 15 years old when he invented an inexpensive early detection test for pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers, after a close family friend died from pancreatic cancer. His breakthrough test detects an increase of a protein that indicates the presence of early stage pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers. Tests cost 3c and take five minutes to run; he currently holds an international patent on the device. Asking this 18-year-old kid, “It was midnight in the lab; no one else was there. I had been working on this for several months and nothing had been working. It finally started working. I jumped up and screamed, ran around the lab, then I called my mom!” Want to change the world, one “experiment” at a time? Take some notes from Andraka’s laboratory skills for your own innovative pursuit:
Be persistent. Or in this case, be stubborn. “I’m incredibly stubborn. For anyone who wants to really innovate, you have to just keep pushing.” The fact that his invention was turned down by 199 labs doesn’t really matter.
Embrace failure. It isn’t only part of the process—it’s most of the process. Keep moving forward. “In Life, failure is always going to happen; You learn from your failures.” Andraka recommends to “keep going and going” because failure “makes your experiences that much stronger.”
Patience is part of the process, too. “Keep pushing,” he says, Persistence pays off.
Learn how to communicate.
Practice makes perfect and learning to express oneself is critical to explaining amazing innovations. “If you can’t communicate your results effectively,” he says, “then no one will understand your idea.”
Success doesn’t discriminate. To any naysayers who tell themselves they’re too young, too old, too much this or not enough that, Andraka emphatically tosses aside self-doubt.
“It doesn’t matter what you look like, or your age or gender, it’s just your ideas that count.”
