Looking at your with and without radiation figure, why do you think your compound didn’t change that much with radiation vs the drastic difference when DMSO was compared?
Hi Katie! DMSO was the negative control in our experiment meaning that by itself with no radiation it is intended to have a 100% survival rate. It is expected that in combination with radiation, it should decrease the survival rate of the flies to 50%. This is why there was such a big difference between those two bars. I think that the radiation did not effect the survival rate of the flies exposed to our drug as much as those in the DMSO because they already had a very low survival rate, and our drug may not be more effective in combination with radiation.
Why exactly would testing the compound at higher doses make it more likely to be effective? Does having more of the compound increase the radiation protection?
Hi Nicholas! Testing the compound in higher doses may make it more effective because a higher concentration of the drug in the cell may improve its ability to induce cell cycle arrest and kill the cell. We think that with a higher concentration of our drug, it could potentially be a useful chemotherapy rather than a radiation protectant.
Hi Mamoona! Yes, if I were to continue experimenting I would retest the drug series that had unreliable results with more flies and with more trials to ensure their validity.
Hi Baleigh! My partners and I did not personally look at the cells affected by our drug but we learned about our compound’s effect on the cell cycle from prior experimentation with it. Arcyriaflavin A was tested as a potential drug for treating endometriosis and that’s how it was learned that it affected phase G1 of the cell cycle and induced cell arrest.
Looking at your with and without radiation figure, why do you think your compound didn’t change that much with radiation vs the drastic difference when DMSO was compared?
Hi Katie! DMSO was the negative control in our experiment meaning that by itself with no radiation it is intended to have a 100% survival rate. It is expected that in combination with radiation, it should decrease the survival rate of the flies to 50%. This is why there was such a big difference between those two bars. I think that the radiation did not effect the survival rate of the flies exposed to our drug as much as those in the DMSO because they already had a very low survival rate, and our drug may not be more effective in combination with radiation.
Why exactly would testing the compound at higher doses make it more likely to be effective? Does having more of the compound increase the radiation protection?
Hi Nicholas! Testing the compound in higher doses may make it more effective because a higher concentration of the drug in the cell may improve its ability to induce cell cycle arrest and kill the cell. We think that with a higher concentration of our drug, it could potentially be a useful chemotherapy rather than a radiation protectant.
Hi! For your results that weren’t reliable would you retest it to see if you go the same results?
Hi Mamoona! Yes, if I were to continue experimenting I would retest the drug series that had unreliable results with more flies and with more trials to ensure their validity.
How did you target and look at a specific part of the cell cycle?
Hi Baleigh! My partners and I did not personally look at the cells affected by our drug but we learned about our compound’s effect on the cell cycle from prior experimentation with it. Arcyriaflavin A was tested as a potential drug for treating endometriosis and that’s how it was learned that it affected phase G1 of the cell cycle and induced cell arrest.