Daniel Baksh, a sophomore at Lancaster Catholic High School in Lancaster, PA won one of the top two prizes at the 65th annual North Museum Science and Engineering Fair. His older brother Sanjeethan won a decade before in 2008. Daniel won the top prize for his research into the effects of cannabis on cancer cells.

Baksh will go on to compete with Senior champion Alexis Kellogg and Lancaster County STEM Alliance Innovator Award winner Akash Banerjee, who will serve as an alternate. Baksh and Kellogg will both compete against one another at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May.

Baksh cultivated the cancer cells himself in a petri dish, with the help of his older brother Sanjeethan, who went on to work at Cornell University after winning his own science fair back in 2008. Daniel’s project sought to look into the effects of cannabinoids on squamous cell carcinoma aka skin cancer. It should be noted here that Daniel’s grandfather is currently suffering from prostate cancer.

Daniel’s results showed that cannabis did indeed have positive results on the cancerous cells by inhibiting their growth and stopping proliferation, as his original hypothesis stated. “There's so many different types of cancer and I think that we as a society and a human race should keep on striving to find a cure,” Daniel said.

Source: Lancaster Online

Image Source: Lancaster Online

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