Teens find a drug used to prevent organ transplant rejection may help ex-soldiers with stress disorder
April 22, 2010 by admin
For the first 11 years of his school life, Zachary Quinlan had never had much time for science. He’d never entered a science fair or competition, his interest limited to getting good grades in his science courses.
“My twin brother, Joshua, was always the science guy,” says Zachary, 17. “I’m more interested in writing and communications – I’ve always wanted a career in public relations.”
All that changed last year when Zachary and his friend Andrew Lynch, looking for a challenge to enliven their final year at Bishops College High School in St. John’s, Newfoundland, entered the SABC. They investigated whether the drug Rapamycin, normally used to help prevent the body’s rejection of organ transplants, could help people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Zachary became interested in treating PTSD because “it is a very common disorder often hidden in the shadows,” particularly in his province, which has the highest per capita enrolment in the armed forces.
The students’ tested rapamycin as a possible PTSD treatment through experiments on lab rats to measure their levels of hyperarousal, a symptom of PTSD that can cause reduced pain tolerance, anxiety, an exaggerated response to sudden noise, insomnia and fatigue. They found that rapamycin dramatically reduced the rats’ levels of hyperarousal.
“Overall, this research suggests that rapamycin might be used in the future as a treatment for people suffering from PTSD,” said Zachary.
“I fell in love with everything about it,” he said of the SABC experience, “the reading, the laboratory experiments, working with our mentor, presenting the results to the judges.”
As for whether it suggests a future in science for the young researcher, Zachary is not so sure, “but after this experience, I’d like to do PR for a major laboratory or science project.”