Wouldn’t it be nice to stop allergies right in their tracks?
This is something that scientists have been struggling with for ages. But sixth-grader Iris Gupta just figured it out on her own.
She’s one of the finalists in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, and her work dealt with nanoparticles and allergies.
Most allergy medications are antihistamines, which block histamines, the things our body produces in reaction to allergens.
But usually we can only take these once the allergies are in full-swing, we’re already miserable, and our allergies already need to be controlled.
This wasn’t enough for Gupta, though. She wanted to stop allergies before they got to full power.
So she looked into nanoparticles, specifically gold nanoparticles, which can stop allergens from binding to the body’s Immunoglobulin E antibodies, which help fight allergens.
After extensive research, she found that gold nanoparticles that brought the best results were 20 nanometers in size, and they matched well with IgE. These nanoparticles prevent the IgE from acting up, therefore making allergies less severe.
If this nanoparticle treatment was investigated further, and if it worked, it could be injected or inhaled at the beginning of allergy season and stave off allergies for the whole time that we would normally have them.
Incredible! Hopefully this treatment becomes usable, and the medical world will definitely see more of Iris Gupta.
Watch her project video here:
