A teen has bagged the award of 2008 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology for his project "Versatile Antimicrobial Coatings from Plasma Deposited Hydrogels and Hydrogel Composites." Wen Chyan’s winning entry can help hospital patients avoid bacterial infections resulting from treatment. Aged just 17, Chyan developed a polymer coating for medical devices that could prevent infections caused by bacterial biofilms. Such infections affect more than 2 million hospital patients annually and kill about 100,000. Created by Chyan, the polymer is an adhesive that is embedded with silver ions that can be used on medical devices such as catheters and breathing equipment, which require a tube to be inserted into a patient.

This second year student at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science at the University of North Texas was named national champion and the recipient of a $100,000 scholarship Monday in the country's premier high school research contest.

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