While it may not have been a typical extra-curricular activity, 17-year-old Angela Zhang's after school project may change the world. Zhang has been making headlines recently after taking home a check of $100,000 from the national Siemens science contest, and now it has been suggested that her research could lead to a potential cure for cancer.

"I created a nanoparticle that's kind of like the Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment in that it can detect cancer cells, eradicate the cancer cells and then monitor the treatment response. So the major aim of the project was to personalize cancer medicine," Zhang told ABC News.

The teen began reading doctorate level work on bio-engineering when she was a freshman. She admitted it was a "little bit overwhelming" at first, but she quickly caught the hang of it, and by junior year the rest was history.

"I'm excited to learn just everything possible," Zhang said in a video interview with CBS News. "Everything in the sciences -- biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, even computer science -- to make new innovations possible."

This has been an exciting month for teen girls and science: Earlier this week, an inspiring homeless teenager, Samantha Garvey, was honored in a prestigious science competition. After word spread about her accomplishment, she was given a home. The three amazing teen 2011 Google Science Fair winners also gave TED Talks about their incredible research, which you can watch here.