10 thoughts on “D14B – Gomez

  1. Why is 3rd instar drosophila larvae a good model organism for a cancer cell? Also, since the compound was considered to be a hit, what other research can be done on this compound that would potentially progress it into being a chemo drug?

    1. The 3rd instar drosophila is a good model because of it’s simplicity as an organism and rapidly growing cells that mimic tumor cell growth. There is still a lot of research to be done with this compound to make it a possible chemo, research in animals such as mice or rats would be the most beneficial to see the effects in has in a more complex organism

  2. Thank you for the presentation! I am currently taking the poisons class offered by Dr. Su, and I wondered if you know the mechanism by which the scorpion venom acts? The only other venom derived toxin I can recall off the top of my head was snake venom, but that was one of the venoms that didn’t list cancer treatment as a potential use. Is this venom a hemolytic or is it something else?

    1. Based on research we read when deciding what compound we were going to choose the Vidatox works is by increasing membrane permeability in cells, this occurs by opening the sodium channels in the cell.

  3. What characteristics of this venom made it a good candidate to be tested as a cancer treatment.

    1. The venom we used increases membrane permeability by inhibiting ion channels which makes the cells more susceptible which is something we want to happen in our cells to make them more susceptible to the radiation.

  4. Are there any similar chemicals to Vidatox that could potentially produce similar results?

    1. I’m sure there are, as was said in the symposium presentation there are hundreds of compounds tested, I know jellyfish venom was used in pervious semesters and produced similar affects.

  5. Since you got a hit, what further research would you like to do? Also, do you know the exact species of blue scorpion? Is it Centruroides gracilis?

    1. Since we had a hit if we could do more research we would conduct more serial dilutions to see if we could find a ideal dose of the vidatox. Unfortunately i do not know what exact species of blue scorpion the venom was from.

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