2013 Weston Youth Innovation Award winner Adam Noble speaks with Y! Canada News about his accomplishments and what’s next in his life

Like any other high school senior, right now Adam Noble is getting ready to graduate and he's looking forward to starting university in the fall. However, he's also been making a name for himself in the scientific community, after a string of amazing discoveries from his work with a microscopic organism known as Euglena.

Noble's journey started with an internet search that sparked an interest in using this tiny organism simply as a way to gauge water quality. However, a surprising discovery led him to a way to filter tiny particles of silver (called nanosilver) from waste water, preventing harm to the environment and also reclaiming a valuable resource. Nanosilver is used by manufacturers as an antibacterial agent in everything from air filters to bandages to sportswear to children's toys, and it has been linked to harmful effects in fish, wildlife and in people as well.

His work with Euglena has earned him several awards over the past few years, including a trip to Stockholm last December, to rub elbows with Nobel laureates and even dance with a Swedish princess, and now he's moving on to use nanosilver as a potential cancer treatment.

He was honoured on Tuesday with the prestigious 2013 Weston Youth Innovation Award, which took place at the Ontario Science Centre, and Noble spoke to Yahoo! Canada News beforehand about his inspirations, his work, what's to come for him after this, and his advice to other aspiring scientists.

Yahoo! Canada News: It's been said that you've always been interested in nature. Were you influenced by your parents or did you come by this interest some other way?

Adam Noble: Yeah, it had a lot to do with my parents because they're both veterinarians, and also i grew up on Clear Lake, out around nature, so that definitely influenced me too.

Yahoo! Canada: What does your family think of your work?

Noble: They're very excited and supportive. A lot of the work has been supported by their animal hospital, and they've let me obtain tumor samples, and grow stuff in their lab.

Yahoo! Canada: You've had a pretty amazing chain of discoveries over the past few years. Out of all of that, what would you say surprised you the most?

Noble: The biggest surprised was the Euglena — that it would take up the nanosilver particles. At the beginning, I thought there was something wrong with my techniques. I couldn't find where the nanosilver was, and I thought I wasn't adding enough to the samples. Then looking under the microscope and finding it was all in the Euglena was really exciting. That was my first major discovery.

Yahoo! Canada: After all of your discoveries, what's next for you?

Noble: I'm just starting pre-clinical trials in partnership with Sick Kids Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital for cancer treatment in mice, and I'm going to medical school in Ireland in the fall.

Yahoo! Canada: What would you recommend for anyone looking to pursue a career in science?

Noble: I recommend doing a science fair project to anyone. It allows you to do something you're really passionate about, and helps you develop any area you need to for future applications, for example research skills to become a doctor. Ask for help, reach out to your local research institute and community for support. People will say no, but keep looking for the right support team and eventually you'll get it.

Yahoo! Canada: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Noble: I'd like to add that anything I've been doing now would not have been possible without my support team, my community, my parents, Trent University, and my mentors. Without those people backing me up, I would not be where I am. This year, when I wanted to go from water treatment to cancer treatment, lots of people asked why I was doing that, and why I would switch, but I felt it would be exciting. I had a hunch. The people at Trent told me I could test my hypothesis and don't spend too much money, but they had faith in me, and it allowed me to go a long way.

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Congratulations from Yahoo! Canada and Geekquinox to Adam Noble on his accomplishments, his latest award, and all the best to him in his future endeavours.

(Image courtesy: Canada-Wide Science Fair)

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