Teen Treats Disorder With Traditional Herb

Ava Cummings, 18, has won a top science award for her research into treatments for a rare disease that affects people in her community. Cummings belongs to the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina. Some of its members suffer from a condition called STAC3. It’s caused by a change in a gene—or unit of hereditary information—which results in poor muscle development.

Cummings wanted to incorporate Indigenous medicines into her research. She decided to treat fruit flies with symptoms that mimicked STAC3 with the traditional herb Urtica dioica. She also treated them with a modern drug and a combination of the two. Flies treated with the herb alone and in combination showed more improvement in movement.

Cummings is now in college. “I hope to continue this research as an undergraduate,” she says.