Meet Ashka Shah, the 17-year-old New York student who studied how a cancer-driving protein

Ashka Shah (Jericho Senior High School, Jericho, NY) A 17-year-old student from New York has developed a targeted method to stop cancer cells from growing, earning national recognition for tackling one of the biggest challenges in cancer research. Ashka Shah, a senior at Jericho High School on Long Island, developed a method that blocks the harmful activity of a key cancer-driving protein without stopping its important functions in healthy cells. Her research earned her a place as a finalist in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search, one of the oldest and most prestigious science and maths competitions for American high school students. The project focuses on the Wnt signalling pathway, an important biological system that controls normal cell growth, stem cell maintenance and tissue repair. When mutations occur, a key protein in this pathway, beta-catenin, can build up in large amounts and move into the cell nucleus. There, it activates genes that help aggressive tumours grow, especially in liver and colorectal cancers.Separating cancer growth from healthy functionScientists have struggled to target beta-catenin because the protein has two very different roles in the body. Outsid...