03 | February | 2020 | THE AMERICAN BLACKSTORY

Metabotropic. Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily M Member 8. Gamma aminobutyric acid.

Most people would be hard-pressed to pronounce those terms, let alone define them, but Amoy AntuNet Shepherd rattles them off with ease.

That she knows them at all makes her rather impressive.

That she’s only 9 years old and teaching them to millions worldwide makes her extraordinary.

“If you scratch out the science stuff, I’m actually pretty normal,” she quips.

It’s hard to scratch out the science stuff when it comes to little Amoy though, because between games of Minecraft, she’s dissecting sheep brains, experimenting with pH balances, and even has a neuroscience mentor in Dr. Farah Lubin at UAB – The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

But there’s someone else that she turns to when she wants to get hands-on:

“My daddy will teach me.”

That’s because when Amoy was only 3 years old, her dad realized that her fascination with his college biology studies was more than just childlike curiosity; it was a gift. And one that he gleefully encouraged, teaching her the parts of his microscope, how to handle it safely, and eventually, how to collect, examine and identify samples. All on her own.

But she didn’t stop there. Those adventures with her microscope opened a whole new world of questions that needed answers. Before her dad knew it, Amoy wanted her own equipment and his guidance in conducting experiments, too. It was when she started narrating those experiments like a teacher presenting to her class that his spur-of-the-moment decision to record her little lessons led to her own Facebook channel, Science for children with Amoy AntuNet. With her natural charm, enthusiasm for science, and absolutely infectious smile, that either of them was surprised when Amoy’s videos started racking up thousands, and then millions of views is hard to believe.

Amoy is a tiny force presenting at an Alzheimer’s conference.

Today, having grown her scientific knowledge, her lab and her social media following, she’s advanced to teaching adults, too. As the keynote speaker at last year’s Triangle Uplift Foundation Youth Innovation Summit, opener at the 2018 UAB Neuroscience Roadmap Scholars Program, and TV personality appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show, The View, CNN, BBC News and many more outlets, Amoy’s shared the wonder of science with people many years her elder.

But despite her media success, Amoy’s sticking to science, not celebrity. She hopes to keep teaching other kids while she lays the groundwork for a career in neuroscience “to learn about Multiple Sclerosis so I can help sick people like my aunt,” and that her headstart helps her to become the hands behind the world’s first brain transplant.

They’re lofty aspirations for such a tiny girl, but what she’s accomplished in her few short years only reinforces her resolve that anything is possible when you “act on your potential.”