Meet Austin Jin, 16, who built CRISPR blood test for TB and won $50,000
16-year-old student Austin Jin has developed a CRISPR-based diagnostic platform called M-CATCH to detect tuberculosis and drug-resistant strains from blood samples. His innovation earned him a $50,000 Davidson Fellowship for its potential to improve global health diagnostics.
Why it matters
Advancements in CRISPR technology for non-invasive diagnostics could revolutionize the treatment of infectious diseases in resource-limited settings.
Most teenagers go to a pathology office for a blood test. For Austin Jin, it was the launch pad to address one of medicine’s oldest and most enduring problems: diagnosing tuberculosis. A 16-year-old senior at William A. Shine Great Neck South High School in Great Neck, NY, developed M-CATCH, a diagnostic platform based on CRISPR that can detect tuberculosis from blood and identify drug-resistant strains. According to the Davidson Institute website, his work earned him the 2026 Davidson Fellowship and a $50,000 scholarship. Scroll down to read about his journey.Another approach to TB diagnosisTuberculosis remains a major global health threat with over a million deaths reported annually worldwide. But one of the biggest challenges in fighting the disease comes even before treatment starts: getting an accurate diagnosis. Sputum, the mucus produced deep in the lungs, is used in many standard TB tests.
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