Around Town: Solorsano sixth-grade student wins 1st place at Silicon Valley’s county-wide science fair

Aryan Ganesh qualifies to go to Broadcom Masters, the national science fair

Photo by Marty Cheek
Solorsano 8th-grade student Aryan Ganesh displays his first-place project titled “Study and Comparison of Effects of Different Natural Products that Can Cure or Prevent Cancer Using Drosophila Model.”

By Robert Airoldi

Here’s some really happy news about a local kid who has ambitions to one day prevent and maybe even cure cancer using natural ingredients.

Certificate showing Aryan Ganesh is nominated to compete in the 2020 Broadcom Masters.

Solorsano Middle School 6th-grader Aryan Ganesh won the first-place prize in the Synopsys Science Fair competing against students from the whole Silicon Valley, his father, Vanamu Ganesh told us.

He was selected for the state and nationals science fair competitions. California canceled the state competition because of the COVID-19 crisis, but the Broadcom Masters – America’s national science fair – is still on for fall.

The 11-year-old Gilroy resident’s project was titled “Study and Comparison of Effects of Different Natural Products that Can Cure or Prevent Cancer Using Drosophila Model.” It won first place at the South Valley Science and Engineering Fair held Feb. 8 at Christopher High School.

Using various herbs including cinnamon, sesame seeds, moringa and (this being Gilroy) garlic, he gave dosages to wild flies larvae. He determined which adult flies had cancer by looking through a high-powered microscope and noting a blurriness in their eyes. The flies that had the least cancer rate were those exposed to a combination of moringa and sesame seeds, he found.

“I tried to cure cancer but I couldn’t,” Ganesh said. “And also, I knew that these natural products are painless. When you eat them, they might be disgusting, but they’re better than going through chemotherapy.”

Good luck at the nationals, Aryan!