Calgary teen trying to develop a way to prevent genetic defects before birth

Logan Cyr is a Grade 11 student at the STEM Innovation Academy. He's also joined The Knowledge Society, where he's focused on biology and genetic editing.

It’s a challenge typically reserved for biologists and researchers with their master’s degrees, but 16-year-old Logan Cyr is hoping to develop a way to prevent genetic malformations before birth.

Cyr is in Grade 11 at STEM Innovation Academy High School in Calgary, but is also enrolled in The Knowledge Society (TKS) based out of Calgary.

On its website, TKS is described as a 10-month global training program for the world’s most ambitious entrepreneurs and innovators.

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Cyr says he had no interest in biology before getting into TKS, but now spends every available moment emersed in it

“If you could control how your brain develops during development, everyone would just have equally functional brains,” he said. “Nobody would need to have like a memory disorder or be prone to Alzheimer’s or anything like that; it’s just due to getting unlucky while you’re developing, it could all just be streamlined, and everyone would have the same chance at life.”

Cyr’s interest in the topic was prompted by his mom’s recent kidney failure.

She was born with one kidney, and it stopped working in 2019. She’s been in hospital for the past seven months.

“This is actually the sixth time she’s gone in – this time it was to get a new kidney – but it did not work, and she’s been put back, and after the incision, she just hasn’t fully recovered yet,” he said.

Cyr says he and his sister also have genetic disorders, and he says advances in genetic editing are making it possible to correct those disorders at an early age.

“I can apply it to kidneys, so I can prevent kidneys from not forming when you’re still in the fetal phase,” he said. “So, someone like my mom, where she was only born one kidney, that’s because the kidney had a mutation and then either didn’t become a kidney or died, so that cell just never became a kidney like it was supposed to.”

Azar Chatur is a director and coach at TKS, and says in Calgary there are close to 70 students enrolled in the program.

“We are the top youth innovation program for students who are between the ages of 13 and 18-years-old who are still in high school or middle school,” he said. “We help students work on projects that they’re really passionate about, excited about.”

Chatur says TKS is a benefit to students who are curious – and not just focused on achieving good grades in the school system.

“Most teenagers are really focused on grades and trying to get a certain grade because they have to get the grade to graduate from high school, and get into university, and things like that,” he said. “But what that does is that limits their ability to be creative and explore things.”

Chatur says Cyr is the perfect candidate for the program, and example of how a student can achieve great things when they put their minds to it.

“Logan’s a very smart young man,” he said. “I think where TKS really helped him was with giving him that sense of direction, as well as just the belief that he can solve problems that are really important to him.”

Cyr says advancements in genetic editing are being made every minute, and he says what’s being developed now is not far off from science fiction, even the Tony Stark character and the technology he used to create Iron Man.

“Let’s say your baby has very weak lungs – maybe your baby has asthma and he’s having issues breathing – so the doctor can go walk over and consult their coworker who could go on a tablet, they can ‘Tony Stark’ their whole toehold sensor for this specific application right there on site,” he said. “And produce a solution for this specific case right there for that specific patient.”