When Shivani Sud was six years old, a member of her immediate family had surgery to remove a brain tumor. Desperate to help, Sud dragged a stepstool to the kitchen sink, sprinkled soap on a sponge and began washing the dishes. She thought that if she helped around the house it would keep her family safe, her mother recalls, with tears welling in her eyes. The tumor was benign and her family member returned safely from the hospital, but Sud's interest in biology had been sparked.
Ten years later, Sud seems like any other 16 year old, wearing eyeliner and tolerating faded pimples, until she opens her mouth. Words like "murine IGK chain secretion-based protein transduction" roll off her tongue, and she knows exactly what it means. Tapping one cupped hand inside the other, she emphasizes the major points of her research project at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Sud, who ...
