Meet Bailey Quinn Frank, eighth-grader who built low-cost bacterial air sampler

When Bailey Quinn Frank learned that scientists can identify species from genetic material left behind in the environment, she saw an opportunity to apply the same idea to public health. The eighth-grader from Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale designed a simple air sampler using small fans and filter paper to collect airborne bacterial DNA. Her goal was to explore whether an inexpensive device could support health surveillance in rural communities, where access to advanced diagnostic tools and disease-monitoring systems is often limited. Her project earned her a place among 30 national finalists in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, according to the Society for Science.A question rooted in access to careBailey’s interest in health surveillance grew from learning about environmental DNA, or eDNA, a technique that captures genetic traces from soil, water, or air to determine which organisms are present in a given area.