Iris Shen, 17, awarded $150,000 for clam leukemia model
Technology
Iris Shen, a 17-year-old from The Woodlands, Texas, just scored third place and $150,000 at the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search.
Her big idea? Using clams with natural blood cancer to test leukemia drugs, which could offer researchers a less expensive, faster and potentially more ethical way to conduct some early-stage cancer drug research.
Clams mirrored human cancer cell responses
Shen found that clams responded to cancer drugs much like human cells do: fewer cancer cells survived and tumors contained a smaller proportion of cancer cells.
When she tried a combination of two other compounds, tumor growth slowed without hurting healthy cells.
Shen was one of just 40 finalists in the competition's 85th year, a pretty huge deal for young science minds.