TEEN WOWS SCIENTISTS
Inspired by Pete Frates, high schooler targets ALS
A local high school science whiz helped Harvard researchers make a key discovery about how Zika infects the brain, and — inspired by Boston College graduate Pete Frates — he hopes to someday help cure ALS.
“I was enrolled in a neuroscience course last year, and I quickly found out it was my passion,” said Liam Kane, a senior at St. John’s Prep. “I’m absolutely fascinated with the brain and the mind, and the dysfunction that occurs there.”
In particular, Kane said, it’s the deadly neurodegenerative disease ALS that has captured his attention. The Marblehead teen was moved to action when Frates, the 31-year-old Beverly man who helped start the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and attended St. John’s Prep, spoke to Kane’s football team two years ago.
“Discovering a cure would be incredible and I’d be absolutely humbled to be able to provide that to Pete and his family, after seeing the awful effects firsthand,” Kane said. “I’ve been able to see how deeply it’s impacted him.”
Kane was the first student to take part in the fledgling internship program at St. John’s that ushers students into local labs. Over the summer, he traded swim trunks for a lab coat, arriving at the Harvard Department of Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology early each day.
“He’s such a hard worker,” said Joseph Klim, a post-doc at the lab. “He got a lot of ALS work done by midday.”
Kane mastered the so-called “Western blot” protocol, a timeconsuming process that allows researchers to examine a cell’s genetic makeup.
As Kane breezed through his work, he became involved in a Zika research project, and is coauthor of a paper published this week that sheds light on the virus’ damaging effect on fetal brain cells.
Science was a passion from early on. At a party his parents hosted, 8-year-old Kane made his rounds with a knife and microscope slides in hand, asking for blood samples.
“Many of them actually did it,” he recalls, laughing.
Kane was the perfect guinea pig for the school’s internship program, said Maura Charlton, the lab’s research and consortium manager, who came up with the idea about a year ago.
“Liam is super hard-working and just so interested in neuroscience,” said Charlton, whose son also attends St. John’s. “I think we lose a lot of kids who’d potentially move into science because they don’t have hands-on experience. This gives them realworld experience.”
Frates’ father, John, said news of Liam’s internship was a bright spot during a dark time. His son is restless at night so he sleeps during the day, robbing him of his time with family.
“It’s taken so much from him, but things like this boost our morale and lift our spirits,” the elder Frates said. “People will never forget what Pete has done for the disease.”