Great job! It’s great that you were able to get a nice looking curve at your different concentrations! Could you please elaborate on what experiments you might do to determine your compound’s effectiveness in more physiologic conditions prior to in vivo testing?
Hi Zahra,
Great question! One experiment that I would suggest to determine the compound’s effectiveness in physiological conditions is to use a human liver cell as the model organism. The hope behind using a living cell and exposing our compound to it is to determine if the compound can operate effectively in the cell as well as identifying any pharmacodynamic and/or pharmacokinetic relationships between the compound and the living cell.
Hi Zahra,
Great question! If further experiments were to be conducted, I would suggest testing the compound in a human liver cell as the model organism in order to be able to easily identify the compound’s effectiveness in physiologic conditions before moving on to in vivo testing. The hope behind testing the compound in a human liver cell is to determine the pharmacodynamic and/or pharmacokinetic relationships between the compound and the living cell.
Great work! I had one question about the other two ineffective compounds you tested-the carbocrawl(may have botched this name)and the mushroom dietary defense supplement, what are your conclusions with those? Does the lack of effectiveness mean they have little to no antibacterial characteristics or is future testing required?
Why specifically do you think Betulin had so much success over the other two active enzymes? Was there a specific structural or functional characteristic that leveraged these results? Why do you think the S. Typhimurium were so far from your hypothesis? Overall, amazing work!
Hi Cara,
This is an excellent question. To be completely honest, I do not have a concrete answer, but after further research, Betulin has 51 derivatives of itself. Therefore, the heterocycle derivative with substituents at N-4, 1,3-dioxol-5-yl (35) and 3-NO2-phenyl (38) displayed the best activities for antibacterial properties, inhibiting S. Typhimurium growth. Based on this new knowledge, I think that it would be interesting to dive deeper into further testing on the multiple derivatives of the Betulin compound in order to compare the difference in structure of each derivative to its overall activity against S. Typhimurium.
As for your second question, I think that you meant Carvacrol and Mushroom defense dietary supplement (MDDS), which were the other two ineffective compounds. Both Carvacrol and MDDS exhibited properties of inducing S. Typhimurium growth further. My group and I concluded that because the MDDS increased S. Typhimurium growth, it contained a significant amount of carbohydrates that S. Typhimurium would feed on and consequently thrive. As a result, it is suggested that dietary supplements like the MDDS should be taken with caution when sick with a bacterial infection.
Hi Dante,
In regards to your question, antibiotic resistant infections are predicted to be the leading cause of death in the US by the year 2050, ultimately surpassing cancer and other illnesses. This statistic was actually learned in lecture from our professor Dr. Harvey. However, to further support this statistic, more research had been conducted to gain a better understanding of the urgent need for the development of new antibiotics in which bacteria has not developed resistance to.
What structural advantages do you think Betulin had over the other two enzymes that translated to its overall higher effectiveness? Why exactly do you think the results from the MDSS strayed so far from your original hypothesis? Overall, amazing work!
Hi Jackson,
Great question! Carvacrol and especially mushroom dietary defense supplement (MDDS) both increased S. Typhimurium growth. For instance, the average absorbance value for carvacrol was 0.4507 and 1.032 for MDDS. Therefore, it is suggested that dietary supplements like the MDDS should be taken with caution when sick with a bacterial infection.
So, yes, the lack of effectiveness means that carvacrol and MDDS have very little antibacterial characteristics and further tests are not necessarily required.
Great job! It’s great that you were able to get a nice looking curve at your different concentrations! Could you please elaborate on what experiments you might do to determine your compound’s effectiveness in more physiologic conditions prior to in vivo testing?
Hi Zahra,
Great question! One experiment that I would suggest to determine the compound’s effectiveness in physiological conditions is to use a human liver cell as the model organism. The hope behind using a living cell and exposing our compound to it is to determine if the compound can operate effectively in the cell as well as identifying any pharmacodynamic and/or pharmacokinetic relationships between the compound and the living cell.
Hi Zahra,
Great question! If further experiments were to be conducted, I would suggest testing the compound in a human liver cell as the model organism in order to be able to easily identify the compound’s effectiveness in physiologic conditions before moving on to in vivo testing. The hope behind testing the compound in a human liver cell is to determine the pharmacodynamic and/or pharmacokinetic relationships between the compound and the living cell.
Great work! I had one question about the other two ineffective compounds you tested-the carbocrawl(may have botched this name)and the mushroom dietary defense supplement, what are your conclusions with those? Does the lack of effectiveness mean they have little to no antibacterial characteristics or is future testing required?
Why specifically do you think Betulin had so much success over the other two active enzymes? Was there a specific structural or functional characteristic that leveraged these results? Why do you think the S. Typhimurium were so far from your hypothesis? Overall, amazing work!
Hi Cara,
This is an excellent question. To be completely honest, I do not have a concrete answer, but after further research, Betulin has 51 derivatives of itself. Therefore, the heterocycle derivative with substituents at N-4, 1,3-dioxol-5-yl (35) and 3-NO2-phenyl (38) displayed the best activities for antibacterial properties, inhibiting S. Typhimurium growth. Based on this new knowledge, I think that it would be interesting to dive deeper into further testing on the multiple derivatives of the Betulin compound in order to compare the difference in structure of each derivative to its overall activity against S. Typhimurium.
As for your second question, I think that you meant Carvacrol and Mushroom defense dietary supplement (MDDS), which were the other two ineffective compounds. Both Carvacrol and MDDS exhibited properties of inducing S. Typhimurium growth further. My group and I concluded that because the MDDS increased S. Typhimurium growth, it contained a significant amount of carbohydrates that S. Typhimurium would feed on and consequently thrive. As a result, it is suggested that dietary supplements like the MDDS should be taken with caution when sick with a bacterial infection.
Had a quick question about where that statistic came from for the 2050 having more deaths from antibiotic resistant bacteria?
Hi Dante,
In regards to your question, antibiotic resistant infections are predicted to be the leading cause of death in the US by the year 2050, ultimately surpassing cancer and other illnesses. This statistic was actually learned in lecture from our professor Dr. Harvey. However, to further support this statistic, more research had been conducted to gain a better understanding of the urgent need for the development of new antibiotics in which bacteria has not developed resistance to.
See the reference below:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5127510/.
What structural advantages do you think Betulin had over the other two enzymes that translated to its overall higher effectiveness? Why exactly do you think the results from the MDSS strayed so far from your original hypothesis? Overall, amazing work!
Hi Cara,
Please see my reply above addressed to you.
Thanks,
Mia
Hi Jackson,
Great question! Carvacrol and especially mushroom dietary defense supplement (MDDS) both increased S. Typhimurium growth. For instance, the average absorbance value for carvacrol was 0.4507 and 1.032 for MDDS. Therefore, it is suggested that dietary supplements like the MDDS should be taken with caution when sick with a bacterial infection.
So, yes, the lack of effectiveness means that carvacrol and MDDS have very little antibacterial characteristics and further tests are not necessarily required.