Mary Brown of Waxhaw isn't old enough for a driver's license, but she's spending her summer doing graduate-level research at N.C. State University's veterinary school.
While other teens are texting, swimming and socializing, she's using a microscope to gauge whether nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (think Advil) slow healing in horse intestinal cells that have been deprived of oxygen.
"She could skip college, and I could train her as a Ph.D. student, and I mean literally," Dr. Anthony Blikslager, a professor of equine surgery, says of his 15-year-old protégé. "I've been doing this for 20-odd years and I've never seen anything like it, and I don't expect to see it ever again."
Mary appears to be one-of-a-kind, a home-schooled teen who loves horses, literature and exploring the natural world in a way that has become increasingly sophisticated. Mr. Bingley, the pony she named after a character in "Pride and Prejudice," accompanied her to Raleigh for the summer so she can ride after hours.
The American Gastroenterological Association Foundation is trying to nurture a new stream of medical researchers, offering $2,500 research awards to 10 high school students across the country. But Mary was excited about lab work before she got the prize.
She can't remember what got her hooked on science. Her mom and teacher, Joanne Brown, says that's no wonder. Brown, who has a degree in horticulture, has been helping Mary and her older sister, Paige, explore plants, bugs and the great outdoors since the girls were tiny.
The family shares a 10-acre farm in the Waxhaw/Marvin area of Union County with horses, goats, dogs and cats. Joanne Brown home-schooled both girls until Paige went to Charlotte Latin for high school. (Dad Allen Brown III is a civil engineer for the city of Charlotte.)
Hint of things to come
Joanne remembers 3-year-old Mary looking at her plush "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" toy and noting that Lyle couldn't be a crocodile because only mammals have fur. At that point, mom suspected that her daughter had an unusual mind.
Mary did a seventh-grade science fair project on the effect of omega fatty acids on the brain development of mice. The next year, she tested horse-deworming medications on earthworms to see if the pass-through could harm the environment. Her science fair victory brought her a tour of the veterinary school, where Blikslager took notice.
Most teens, he said, are fascinated by the hospital, where they can see medical procedures being done on animals. But a friend of Blikslager's who had judged the science fair brought Mary to the research building as well.
Mary took a rare interest in the minutiae of veterinary research - it unites her love of horses and science, she says. Blikslager and his wife have also named horses for "Pride and Prejudice" characters, including a Mr. Bingley. The two clicked.
So when Mary e-mailed in ninth grade to ask about doing a project in his lab, Blikslager said yes, knowing she'd be thrown in with graduate and post-doctoral students. She spent three weeks looking at how serum from fetal cows affected the growth of cells from horse intestines.
This summer, she won the AGA fellowship, giving her seven weeks in the lab. She's staying with her aunt and uncle, Karen and Wayne Carpenter, while Mr. Bingley lives at a boarding stable. Mary has a learner's permit, but her uncle shuttles her to and from the lab and stable.
Karen Carpenter says her niece occasionally unwinds with a little TV - usually biographies or history - but more often goes to her room to prepare for her next day's work or take an online English class.
"She is just not the typical teenager," Carpenter says. "She is very focused and very driven."
A petite 5 feet 21/2 inches tall, Mary barely looks 15. Blikslager says colleagues have blurted, "How old are you?"
Reading 'War and Peace'
But despite the looks, she fits in, Blikslager says, doing work that will eventually get her name on a published paper and could have implications for horse and human health. When work slows down, he notes, she doesn't text and Facebook like most teens (he has a daughter the same age) but reads "War and Peace" or historical works on the Cold War and Watergate.
When Mary returns home, she plans to start a few classes at Wingate University and continue her home-schooling as a 10th-grader. She and her mom say that at this point, she's working through advanced math and science texts on her own. She'd like to do another internship at N.C. State next summer, and maybe graduate a year early.
Eventually, she'd like to enter Blikslager's program to earn a combined veterinary degree and doctorate in research.
Blikslager says medical researchers are desperately needed, especially those willing to work with horses and other large animals. Most studying at American universities come from Asia or Europe, says Blikslager, who hails from England.
"There are very few American students that are interested in taking it to that level," he says.
Mary is on her way.
