Early Edition
Viviana Risca, Winner of 'Junior Nobel Prize,' Explains Data Encryption and DNA
Aired March 15, 2000 - 8:42 a.m. ETTHIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Yesterday we told you about the race to unlock the human genetic code. Well, that is just the kind of thing our next guest is tinkering with. And she's only 17 years old. Viviana Risca is this year's winner of the 59th Intel Science Talent Search. Her project deals with data encryption and a way to insert messages into DNA.
Well, Viviana joins us this morning from New York.
And first of all, congratulations on winning what people are calling the Junior Nobel Prize.
VIVIANA RISCA, INTEL SCIENCE WINNER: Thank you very much.
STOUFFER: And if you could in plain language, that even a TV anchorperson could understand, tell us what you were able to do with your project?
RISCA: I was able to hide a message into a molecule of DNA and then combine that molecule with a lot of other DNA so that somebody who doesn't know how to find it will be unable to know which of those molecules has the message.
STOUFFER: Now how could you apply this research? You are talking about actually hiding messages in the leaves of a flower or animal tissue, is that right, eventually?
RISCA: Right, it is possible. And I think one application that it could have is, for example, is copyrighting, somebody makes a transgenic organism they is genetically engineered, they could hide their name or their company's name inside the DNA of that organism, thereby proving that they have created it.
STOUFFER: Now how did you become interested in this kind of a project?
RISCA: I became interested in molecular computing, which is a very recent field, and I did a small project. But the person who gave me this particular idea to do steganography, to hide these messages inside DNA. is Dr. Carter Bancroft from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who ended up being my mentor for the project.
STOUFFER: Now, I was looking at your resume, and not only do you do well in science, you tutor other students through the National Honor Society, managing editor of the literary magazine, you write poetry, you paint, you are quite a Renaissance woman at 17. How do you pull that all off?
RISCA: Well, I do all those things at Shriver High School (ph) in Port Washington. But I also spend a lot of time with friends. And I think it is really important to be well rounded, and to do as much as possible, and do what you love. I don't get as much sleep as I would like to, but it is a lot of fun.
STOUFFER: And Viviana, what's next for you? College, the CIA maybe?
RISCA: No, no, definitely college. I am thinking of going into maybe computer science and biology because I just love information systems, like cells or computers.
STOUFFER: OK Viviana, thank you very much...
RISCA: Thank you.
STOUFFER: ... congratulations on your big win. Good luck to you.
RISCA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT
