We chose the drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) as our model organism because they can reproduce quickly, they have a short incubation period, and they are cost effective since we will be running many, many experiments.
We use the flies as our model organism, we test the possible chemotherapeutics on them by implementing the drugs at different concentrations into their food and letting them incubate with this food. With the percent survival, whichever flies are dead show the effectiveness of our compound and can determine whether or not the compound is considered a hit at this concentration. The hits are then what go on to be considered possible chemotherapeutics when dealing with cancer.
I am not entirely certain what it is meant by therapeutic interventions, but in terms of understanding how cancer works and determining which compounds to choose, we were able to utilize our ability to access an incredible amount of research via the internet. With this connection, we found research papers on the compounds within a list provided to us by our professor, though we did not formally conduct any research and therefore did not necessarily do any other therapeutic intervening, we were able to see how other researchers were able to investigate these drugs and note how far they were able to go with their research. I hope that I addressed what you were asking.
We chose colchicine as our positive control because it is a known chemotherapeutic and therefore will serve as a basis on determining whether or not there is an issue with our flies or if our data is working correctly as any good positive control does. We decided to use the dimethyl sulfate as our negative control because when in conjunction with the radiations the DMSO should result in a 50% survival rate for our flies and therefore help to determine what a hit is classified at, a hit is 2 standard deviations below the mean percent survival for the DMSO flies.
Hello, thank you! Our research fits directly into the next steps in the greater picture of cancer treatments. Because the first step of any treatment of any disease is finding a potential compound or drug that would prove effective in whatever organism or cell that is desired, this is exactly what we achieved in our research. Since we found through our research that the Methiothepin maleate is a potential chemotherapeutic, the next step is to find out whether this finding stays true in different model organisms like mice or humans in further trials. Then comes the clinical trials where our compound will ultimately work or be kicked out. I hope this helps your understanding on how it fits into the bigger picture.
What made you choose flies as the model organism for your research?
We chose the drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) as our model organism because they can reproduce quickly, they have a short incubation period, and they are cost effective since we will be running many, many experiments.
How do the flies help you find drugs for cancer?
We use the flies as our model organism, we test the possible chemotherapeutics on them by implementing the drugs at different concentrations into their food and letting them incubate with this food. With the percent survival, whichever flies are dead show the effectiveness of our compound and can determine whether or not the compound is considered a hit at this concentration. The hits are then what go on to be considered possible chemotherapeutics when dealing with cancer.
What are some other therapeutic interventions that were used in the lab besides the flies?
I am not entirely certain what it is meant by therapeutic interventions, but in terms of understanding how cancer works and determining which compounds to choose, we were able to utilize our ability to access an incredible amount of research via the internet. With this connection, we found research papers on the compounds within a list provided to us by our professor, though we did not formally conduct any research and therefore did not necessarily do any other therapeutic intervening, we were able to see how other researchers were able to investigate these drugs and note how far they were able to go with their research. I hope that I addressed what you were asking.
Why did you chose DMSO and colchicine for you positive and negative controls?
We chose colchicine as our positive control because it is a known chemotherapeutic and therefore will serve as a basis on determining whether or not there is an issue with our flies or if our data is working correctly as any good positive control does. We decided to use the dimethyl sulfate as our negative control because when in conjunction with the radiations the DMSO should result in a 50% survival rate for our flies and therefore help to determine what a hit is classified at, a hit is 2 standard deviations below the mean percent survival for the DMSO flies.
Hello, great presentation! How does your research fit into the bigger picture of cancer treatments?
Hello, thank you! Our research fits directly into the next steps in the greater picture of cancer treatments. Because the first step of any treatment of any disease is finding a potential compound or drug that would prove effective in whatever organism or cell that is desired, this is exactly what we achieved in our research. Since we found through our research that the Methiothepin maleate is a potential chemotherapeutic, the next step is to find out whether this finding stays true in different model organisms like mice or humans in further trials. Then comes the clinical trials where our compound will ultimately work or be kicked out. I hope this helps your understanding on how it fits into the bigger picture.