3M Young Scientist winner just discovered a potential COVID-19 treatment. She's 14.

As the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies race to find treatments for the novel coronavirus, one scientist has been working for months in her bedroom. Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old freshman at Independence High School in Frisco, Texas, recently won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and $25,000 for her discovery, a compound that can bind to the coronavirus, inhibiting its ability to infect people. Chebrolu started her project a year ago, initially looking for a treatment for the influenza virus. When the pandemic hit, she changed tack. Denise Rutherford, senior vice president for corporate affairs at St. Paul-based 3M, hailed Chebrolu and the nine impressive finalists, noting that "3M's commitment to fostering the next generation of science leaders has never been more determined."

Q: Congratulations. What has winning been like for you?

A: Busy with interviews. It's just really exciting all around.

Q: How would you describe what you accomplished to your classmates, or people like me?

A: I developed a potential antiviral for COVID-19 infection. I found the molecule from a database of millions of compounds that can bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and change its shape. And by changing the shape of the spike protein by attaching the molecule to it, it can stop the virus from infecting human cells, and basically stop the infectivity of the virus in human cells.

Q: That's impressive, because so many big companies and top scientists are trying to work toward treatments for COVID-19. Why was this really important to you?

A: Obviously because of the pandemic, everyone's life has changed. We have quarantine and stay-at-home orders and just that constant fear of yourself or your loved one getting infected by the coronavirus. And we know that scientists across the world are racing to create newer vaccinations to combat the virus and its potential aftermath. So everyone needs to put in all their efforts, as they are, which is quite warranted. My effort to find a spike protein binder isn't unique in its methodology, and it may appear to be a drop in the ocean, but it adds to all these efforts and therefore is quite substantial.

Q: What has been your experience dealing with quarantine and online schooling?

A: Initially, I couldn't believe it, because I had spent so much time researching about drug discovery and vaccinations and pandemics even before the pandemic hit us. To think we were actually living through something like that, something that's once in a generation, once in a lifetime experience, it's crazy to think that.

Q: What interested you in studying pandemics before this?

A: I started with the influenza virus for my project. And that started after a school project when I was researching about the 1918 (influenza pandemic). After researching about the flu, I realized that even with the current antivirals that we have, even with these annual vaccinations that we have, there's still about 60,000 deaths in the USA alone, despite all these therapies that are there every year. So it kind of caused me to think, what can I do about this? What can I do about this problem to help ease the mortality caused by the flu? And so I did more extensive research, and I found out about this methodology, which could use computational methods to identify potential antivirals against viruses and infections. After more research, I tried to combine my knowledge of the methodology and my knowledge of the influenza virus to find a potential antiviral against the influenza virus. So I actually submitted it into the Dallas Regional Science Fair, and later into the 3M Young Scientist Challenge. And when I submitted to that challenge, that's when the coronavirus was at its first spikes, its first stages. That made me change my project. So I collaborated with my mentor, Dr. Mahfuza Ali, and we decided to change routes and pivot and target the SARS-CoV-2 virus, because it's obviously made a bigger impact than the influenza virus has made this year.

Q: When did you first get interested in science?

A: It started at a very young age with my grandfather, who was a chemistry professor. He used to push me into science and do all these science experiments with me, like building a volcano in the backyard or making salt crystals or something like that. After that, it just kind of grew by itself. And then in about sixth or seventh grade, I actually started looking into problems in the world and how I could use my knowledge of science and my passion for it to actually solve problems.

Q: It's well-known that boys are often told they should go into science, and girls are told to go into something less difficult. What it's been like to navigate the science world and get such acclaim as a girl?

A: Luckily, my family has always been super supportive of my science passion. And I know there's a lot of girls in the world who don't get that same support or opportunity to count STEM as part of their passions or go into that as a career. So for all the girls out there who want to go into STEM, who want to go into science, just know that you're no different than any other person. You're special in your own way. Take on any opportunity that you see, because you never know where you're going to end up.

Q: Where do you hope to end up?

A: I would like to be a medical researcher because I really like science and, particularly, biology.