Ralston Public Schools Senior discovers new virus
Sean Matthews calls his discovery a "total coincidence"
Sean Matthews calls his discovery a "total coincidence"
Sean Matthews calls his discovery a "total coincidence"
A young scientist receives praise for his discovery of a new virus.
Sean Mathews can usually be found in a science lab. The high school senior was conducting research as part of his international undergraduate project at Metropolitan Community College when he made the discovery. It was all part of the Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science program.
"We had a long weekend to figure out where our soil samples were supposed to come from, and so I really badly wanted our soil sample that we discovered the virus in to be from Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, but we had a problem because the soil was so dry," Mathews said.
Despite the challenges, Mathews said he trusted his gut.
"We had to set it overnight to grow on a plate. And so, the next day, all of our trays were covered in mold, so we had to do it all over again," Mathews said.
Several attempts later, something odd caught him off guard.
"There was just one tiny, small dot in the middle of the plate. And I wrote in all caps in my notebook 'we have a virus' and I drew lots of pictures of it and lots of diagrams," Mathews said.
Mathews calls the virus 'CapTrips'. He told KETV NewsWatch 7 it has an impact on humans which could be beneficial.
"It's very ironic because it does not pose any threat to humans at all. If anything, it helps humans because there's lots of therapies called 'Phage Therapies' where they help treat humans from bacteriophages or bacteria," Mathews said.
He adds this opens a door to many possibilities.
"This is my whole stepping stone to get further discoveries, so it's huge for me and I see it as my child," Mathews said.