Vancouver high school student develops early-stage HIV test

A Grade 10 student from Vancouver who has developed an early-stage HIV test is headed to Ottawa to compete against other young scientists in an international competition.

York House School student Nicole Ticea has developed a point-of-care HIV test using an isothermic nucleic acid amplification system, Simon Fraser University announced Thursday.

With the help of SFU graduate student Gursev Anmole and associate professor Mark Brockman, Ticea proved her test could analyze a pinprick of blood on a lab chip to identify quickly whether someone has been recently infected with the virus.

The test, touted as being nearly as simple as a pregnancy test, won first place in this year’s B.C. Regional Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge.

Ticea will now travel to Ottawa to compete against students from all over Canada in the national final on May 22.

The top two national winners will go on to the International BioGENEius Challenge in San Diego this June to compete for a USD $7,500 award.

Christine Tam
Global BC
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