π¬ 16-year-old builds CRISPR blood test for TB
A 16-year-old student developed M-CATCH, a CRISPR-based diagnostic platform to detect tuberculosis from blood. Austin Jin, a senior at William A. Shine Great Neck South High School in Great Neck, NY, created this system. His work secured him the 2026 Davidson Fellowship and a $50,000 scholarship. This test screens blood serum for bacterial DNA and identifies drug-resistant strains. Jin plans to major in biomedical engineering to turn lab research into medical tools. π¬