BREAKTHROUGH . BREAKTHROUGH by Jack Andraka with Matthew Lysiak . by Jack Andraka with Matthew Lysiak . ( Scribe Books , £12.99 ) Jack Andraka is just 18 , yet his newly-published memoir carries a blurb from Barack Obama . 'Spectacular stuff ... ' enthuses the President . Jack 's short life has been packed with incident , but there was little in his background to suggest that he would become a teenage celebrity . He was born in 1997 and grew up in suburban Maryland with his elder brother , Luke , and parents , Jane , a nurse , and Steve , a civil engineer . The Andrakas encouraged their boys to think about how the world worked : school runs were fiercely competitive as Jack and Luke tried to solve science questions fired at them by their mother . At home , the basement became a laboratory , from where Luke 's attempt to turn a microwave into a ray gun plunged the entire neighbourhood into darkness . At school , Jack won prizes for science projects , but was ostracised as a geek and viciously bullied when he came out as gay , aged 13 . Then a close family friend , Uncle Ted , died of pancreatic cancer . Deeply depressed , Jack made an unsuccessful suicide attempt . That awful moment proved to be a turning-point . At summer camp , Jack met a sympathetic counsellor , and began to channel his grief into the science that would make him a star . Initially , he thought of trying to find a cure for pancreatic cancer - an ambitious task , given that he did n't know what a pancreas was . An online search revealed that survival rates are low , partly because the cancer is hard to detect . He had his project - but he needed access to a proper laboratory . He wrote 200 emails to university science departments - and 199 rejections later Dr Anirban Maitra , an expert in pancreatic cancer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , offered Jack a corner of his lab to work in , under supervision . The supervision proved necessary as Jack contaminated samples by sneezing on them , and smashed a tray of test tubes by tripping over his shoelaces . But at last there came the moment that every research scientist longs for : his experiment worked . When his test for detecting pancreatic cancer won the top award at a prestigious international science competition in 2012 , his wild celebrations at the awards ceremony went viral . He was interviewed by CNN and the BBC , and had to fit school assignments around invitations to meet world leaders and give TED talks . He was photographed with Bill and Hillary Clinton ( who told him that politics was just like the film , Mean Girls ) . There was an audience with the Pope , he was hugged by Michelle Obama ( 'She was incredibly strong ' ) and met the President who was , Jack notes , 'surprisingly well versed in science ' . Of course , it was n't all praise and presidential parties . There was anti-gay abuse , and scepticism from the scientific community . 'One major publication even dedicated a thousand words to why they were NOT going to celebrate my achievements , ' Jack writes . Funny , brave and super-enthusiastic , with a healthy dose of adolescent egotism and some comic glimpses of the trials of being Jack 's parent , Breakthrough is an inspiring story for would-be scientists - just do n't complain when they turn your microwave into a ray gun . Teen scientist and inventor Jack Andraka attends the Global Citizen Festival - The Action Summit 2014 .
Uncle Ted , now 18 , became depressed when a close family friend died . Jack Andraka passed away from pancreatic cancer . Jack then developed a test for detecting pancreatic cancer . It won the top award at a prestigious international science competition . Breakthrough is an inspiring story for would-be scientists .