Great presentation!
I had a quick question. How/why does the radiation effect the survival rate? Or in other words, what is the significance of radiation.
Thank you! As you probably already know, radiation is a very common treatment used in cancer patients. We wanted to see if the venom would work synergistically with the radiation in order to be more effective in treating cancer cells.
Hi! You killed your presentation! I just want to know what about the larvae of your organism resembles cancer cells and why this is a good model organism?
Thank you! We used the third instar larvae as they are resistant to radiation like a cancer cell, and they also rapidly proliferate like cancer cells do.
Hello Phoebe, I did research on Vidatox’s antibiotic properties and found it did not hinder E. coli growth at any medically significant concentrations. Additionally, during background research on this homeopathic cancer treatment (Vidatox) it was discovered to actually have Tumor activating properties. You mentioned that Vidatox was “proven” to work, what information did you find that suggests this?
Hi Brian, we found research done with vitadox as a potential chemotherapy performed in Cuba. To summarize it, their research found that vitadox was able to target diseased cells and not cause harm to healthy cells and that it has “anti-tumor” properties.
Phoebe, this was a great presentation. My first question is in regards to one of the applications that you mentioned in your introduction. Specifically, is there quantitative data that proves with statistical significance that scorpion poison is actually an effective curative agent? Is this Cuban treatment scientifically verified?
I also wanted to ask about the project in general. When Drosophila are presented with some of these toxic agents, how do we know that is is actually acting as a chemotherapeutic? While we can measure the percentage survival rate, how do we know that the flies that are dying are doing so because of cell replication errors versus the general toxicity of these venoms?
Thank you, the cuban treatment has been used on human patients and there has been some success. I would say that it has been scientifically verified as the data we found was from verified sources; however, since the US has still not approved of this treatment it has not been verified in the US. In regards to your second question, we used the flies when they were in the third instar larvae phase as they have very similar qualities to cancer cells at this stage. It is possible that some died due to cell replication errors; however, we performed multiple trials with each venom and each had very similar results, which indicates that it was the venom as it is very unlikely that they all died due to cell replication errors.
Since the percent survival of flies treated with the cottonmouth venom was so low both with and without radiation, do you think it can be concluded that the venom is too toxic to yield any potential as a chemotherapy? And why?
I do not think that can be concluded just yet. I think further experiments would have to be performed in order to find out if there is a specific dosage that would be safe.
Great presentation!
I had a quick question. How/why does the radiation effect the survival rate? Or in other words, what is the significance of radiation.
Thank you! As you probably already know, radiation is a very common treatment used in cancer patients. We wanted to see if the venom would work synergistically with the radiation in order to be more effective in treating cancer cells.
Hi! You killed your presentation! I just want to know what about the larvae of your organism resembles cancer cells and why this is a good model organism?
Thank you! We used the third instar larvae as they are resistant to radiation like a cancer cell, and they also rapidly proliferate like cancer cells do.
Hello Phoebe, I did research on Vidatox’s antibiotic properties and found it did not hinder E. coli growth at any medically significant concentrations. Additionally, during background research on this homeopathic cancer treatment (Vidatox) it was discovered to actually have Tumor activating properties. You mentioned that Vidatox was “proven” to work, what information did you find that suggests this?
Hi Brian, we found research done with vitadox as a potential chemotherapy performed in Cuba. To summarize it, their research found that vitadox was able to target diseased cells and not cause harm to healthy cells and that it has “anti-tumor” properties.
Phoebe, this was a great presentation. My first question is in regards to one of the applications that you mentioned in your introduction. Specifically, is there quantitative data that proves with statistical significance that scorpion poison is actually an effective curative agent? Is this Cuban treatment scientifically verified?
I also wanted to ask about the project in general. When Drosophila are presented with some of these toxic agents, how do we know that is is actually acting as a chemotherapeutic? While we can measure the percentage survival rate, how do we know that the flies that are dying are doing so because of cell replication errors versus the general toxicity of these venoms?
Thanks!
Thank you, the cuban treatment has been used on human patients and there has been some success. I would say that it has been scientifically verified as the data we found was from verified sources; however, since the US has still not approved of this treatment it has not been verified in the US. In regards to your second question, we used the flies when they were in the third instar larvae phase as they have very similar qualities to cancer cells at this stage. It is possible that some died due to cell replication errors; however, we performed multiple trials with each venom and each had very similar results, which indicates that it was the venom as it is very unlikely that they all died due to cell replication errors.
Since the percent survival of flies treated with the cottonmouth venom was so low both with and without radiation, do you think it can be concluded that the venom is too toxic to yield any potential as a chemotherapy? And why?
I do not think that can be concluded just yet. I think further experiments would have to be performed in order to find out if there is a specific dosage that would be safe.