JOHN YANG: Most 14-year-old boys spend their time playing video games or skateboarding, but not Heman Bekele.

He spent the last year developing a bar of soap that could treat skin cancer.

It was the winning entry at the Annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge, considered one of the top science and engineering competitions for fifth through 8th graders.

Heman's taking a little break from his work to join us here in the studio.

Heman, tell us about this bar of soap.

How does it work?

HEMAN BEKELE: Sure.

So SCTS, which stands for Skin Cancer Treating Soap, is basically this compound based bar of soap that's charged with different cancer fighting chemicals to help treat different forms of skin cancer.

Pretty much the way that it works is it uses this drug called imidazoquinolines, and it wraps it around this lipid based nanoparticle.

And the concept here is that even though the soaps and suds will be washed away by the soap, there will still be all of the medicinal components stuck there by the lipid based nanoparticle.

And this is kind of a more new and novel approach to fighting against skin cancer.

JOHN YANG: And how did you come up with the idea of a bar of soap as the delivery product for this medicine?

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah, I think that my main goal here was not only to fight against skin cancer, but to find a more affordable and accessible approach to it.

And so with that, you really need to find a completely different way towards the traditional form of treating skin cancer, which really is surgery or radiation therapy or something like that.

And so it led me to think of things like topical application, like a cream or a bar of soap, because those are a lot more affordable and are a lot more accessible, too.

So that's what really got me to that bar of soap as the final product.

JOHN YANG: You say you want it to be affordable and accessible, and this is not just a project.

That's one off.

You want to develop this?

HEMAN BEKELE: Exactly.

I do.

And I actually have plans that by 2028, I hope to turn this passion project into more than that.

I hope to turn it into a nonprofit organization so that I can provide equitable and accessible skin cancer treatment to truly as many people as possible.

JOHN YANG: Have you always been interested in science?

HEMAN BEKELE: I mean, since before I can remember, I've just had such a huge love for just knowing things about this world and being curious and really asking questions.

And I think that initial curiosity really did grow into my love and my passion for science and creating new things and starting to make my own experiments.

And I think that's what really started to slowly progress into this Barb soap as just a passion project.

JOHN YANG: Are there particular fields of science that are more interesting to you than others?

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah, I love biology, and when I was younger, I really always tried to do different experiments with random household chemicals.

You would find it's crazy how far that's grown to now actually using lab validated types of chemicals.

So, yeah, just biology, chemistry, those two, just really passionate about those.

JOHN YANG: Now, in this competition, I know that three M3 paired you with a three M project engineer named Deborah Isabelle.

Was that the first time working with someone at that level?

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah, it was my very first time actually working with someone that actually has had this much experience in something like project management and science.

And it really was great to be able to pick minds with her and be able to speak with her on so many different topics.

And she was great not only with helping me on the science point of it, but at the same time also helping me with all of her wonderful connections.

If I needed to speak with a biochemist or a biologist, I could always just ask her and she would connect me to someone like that.

And I think it's just great that not only was she super helpful in that perspective, just helping me with everything, but she also just had a wonderful connection with everyone inside of three M. JOHN YANG: What's the best thing you learned from her?

HEMAN BEKELE: I think I really was inspired by the way that she always looked at problems.

I think that she broke everything down to its really raw components.

Right.

If I asked her a question, she wouldn't just think of it as that one question, she would break it down into multiple questions.

And I think that's a great outlook at life, and it's a great outlook at how to crack things down in science, and that really did help me, even in the future.

JOHN YANG: I know there was a $25,000 award that went with this prize.

What are you going to use it for?

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah, I think that a lot of it's going to go towards the project itself.

There's a lot of things like certifications, FDA certification, clinical trials, all of those.

And there is some expenses that come with that.

So I will invest a portion of the money for that, and then as well as that, just to help with my further education as well, whether it be college or some STEM program or something like that as well, just to further my own education as well.

JOHN YANG: Now you're in high school now?

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah, I'm a freshman.

JOHN YANG: Do you find yourself sort of in science classes just miles ahead of your classmates?

HEMAN BEKELE: I mean, you know, it's even hard to notice when you really are passionate about what you're learning.

And I always just try to really stay invested and learn as much as I possibly can.

The possibilities with science are endless.

Right.

So whether you know a concept or you don't, it's always going to be interesting to learn as much about it as you can.

And that's what really keeps me going.

JOHN YANG: In the introduction, I was sort of joking about 14-year olds playing video games and skateboarding.

But what do you like to do for fun?

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah, obviously, this bar of soap is definitely not all about me.

I also really love to play chess.

I run track and field for my school.

I'm a part of model UN, science Olympiad.

So there's a lot of other things I also do that I find really fun.

JOHN YANG: What's your event and track?

HEMAN BEKELE: Oh, I run really short distance, 55 meters, 100 meters, things like that.

JOHN YANG: Heman Bekele, thanks very much.

HEMAN BEKELE: Yeah.

Thank you so much for having me.