The Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley, is largely a murder mystery. But when Ava Cummings, 18, read the book, she was most intrigued by the main character’s interest in ethnobotany. (That’s the study of how people in a certain culture or region use their local plants.) Like Ava, the lead character and author are Native American. This piqued Ava’s interest in traditional Indigenous medicine.
In fact, it would prompt her to study how well an Indigenous herb could treat STAC3 disorder. This genetic condition impairs muscle development and strength. It was first identified in Ava’s Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. It also affects some family friends.
Ava Cummings, 18, set out to discover the best treatment for STAC3 disorder — a muscle condition that affects members of her Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
Ava’s goal was to see how well a traditional herb might treat the condition compared with a modern drug. To find out, she ran an experiment with adult and larval fruit flies. All showed STAC3 symptoms.
The teen treated some flies with the herb Urtica dioica. Other flies got the drug tirasemtiv. She treated a third bunch of flies with both. The herb alone did the best job of improving movement and how far fruit-fly larvae could travel. The herb alone and in combo with the drug did a better job of improving movement in the adult insects.
Her findings shed light on ways Indigenous medicine may complement or even outperform modern drugs. Ava hopes her project will also boost awareness about diseases that affect small communities.
Ava is currently a senior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham. Her research earned second place at the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search. (This competition is run by Society for Science, which also publishes Science News Explores). In this interview, Ava shares her research experiences and advice.
Did you share the findings with anyone in your community?
Ava attended a meeting of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. There, she got to meet many Indigenous professionals and spread awareness about STAC3. Some people she met had their own experiences with STAC3. Some were studying other population-specific diseases. “Being able to make those connections and relationships was really fun,” she says.
What was your favorite part of this project?
“Making friends through it,” Ava says. The research program at her school had 12 students. “That just really gave me a taste of what science is all about and what the scientific community is really capable of.” Ava didn’t just get to share what was going on with her own project. She got to learn about others’ research, too. “Having those friends around for good humor and light-hearted conversation when things were getting difficult or challenging was also very good.”
Advice for research newbies?
Start “with baby steps,” Ava says. “I was very intimidated by seeing past projects that people had worked on. I would read their project titles, and I’m like, ‘I can’t pronounce or even begin to think what any of these words mean.’” But she’s gotten to see her own project grow over the past year from a small seed of curiosity. “You’re not gonna end up with this big discovery, big project overnight,” she says.
What’s next for you?
“I would like to continue researching STAC3,” Ava says. But she wants to study Indigenous medicine for other diseases, too. “One, for example, is called GA1, glutaric acidemia type 1,” Ava says. “That’s a liver disease that’s also specific to my tribe.”
