This isn’t your average science project.
High school student Anya Pogharian volunteers at a hospital dialysis unit where she’s gained experience with the machines that work like kidneys and filter patients’ blood. During her time there, the 17-year-old decided to try to invent a similar machine that would cost less for her senior science project.
According to CBC News, a typical dialysis machine costs 30,000 Canadian dollars (approximately 24,000 American dollars). Anya invented one for 500 Canadian dollars (approximately 400 American dollars) making it cheap enough for a patient to buy and keep at home.
The project took 300 hours compared to the 10 hours required by her teachers, but Anya saw the machine as more than a school assignment. She said she plans on using her device to help dialysis patients in developing countries.
“Ten percent of patients living in India and Pakistan who need the treatment cannot afford it or can’t have it in any way -- it's not accessible. So that’s really what motivated me to continue.”
H/T A+
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