Young scientist garnering international attention for Ebola research

VANCOUVER — When Conor Hearn, 14, was in grade two, his teacher was discussing the three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. Hearn put his hand up and waited patiently for his turn to speak. When he was called upon, he said to his teacher: “What about the other two – plasma and Bose-Einsten condensate?”

So perhaps it’s no surprise that while Hearn’s peers are learning about atoms and elements, he’s been researching the deadly ebola virus and writing about it in his blog. Specifically, he’s broken down when the virus started, and how it duplicates and spreads in detail.

His interest in Ebola was piqued when he was researching the Vancouver-based pharmaceutical company Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, he tells Global News. It took him three weeks to write and research the particular post, entitled “A Brief Passage of Time in the Deadly Ebola Virus.”

At first, the post that was published in April received very little attention. But as the virus spread throughout Western Africa, so too did interest in Hearn’s research. It’s now been read by people in over 130 different countries, he says.

“Most recently, I got a professor from the University of Illinois who reached out and said it was one of the clearest descriptions of the Ebola virus’s replication that he had ever seen, and then he asked me for a PowerPoint,” Hearn told Global News. “Of course, he didn’t know that I was 14. I could be pretty much anybody. That’s one of the great things about the internet.”

Hearn’s father, Justin Hearn says he thinks the amount of attention his son’s research has garnered from academics around the world is “unbelievable,” but is also a reflection of the internet era. “If you have something that’s topical and you have some interesting opinions on it or some interesting research on it, there’s just an explosion.”

Both Hearns say they think the people reading the article and reaching out to Conor would be “shocked” to learn his age.

“I always think of him as a 40-year-old man trapped in a 14-year-old body,” says Justin Hearn.

But Conor sees things differently than his father. “I like to consider myself 21, but in all technicality I’m 14.”

–With files from Jill Bennett.