You mentioned food drying up as a possible cause of the variable results. You could add a little bit of water to the top of the food after it solidifies to prevent drying. If doing that reveals that the compound doesn’t have an effect when combined with radiation, what other experiments could you do to determine whether this is a potentially promising chemotherapeutic? In other words, it seems like there is a lot of evidence to suggest that it should work. What if it doesn’t using your current experimental approach? -Pam
Instead of testing quercetin as a combination therapy with radiation, quercetin could be tested indivdually and retested for maximum dose and the 1:2 dilution series.
Since the compound is an antioxidant and works against the free radicals produced by radiation, a different combination therapy might be more benefical such as immunotherapy. This is a guess, but with quercetin’s antiproliferative properties, quercetin would be able to control/slow the growth of the tumor as immunotherapy works kill existing tumors.
This research is very interesting and you show a great level of understanding! It’s interesting that a compound seen commonly in foods we eat regularly can be effective against cancer growth. What is the exact function of the compound when it comes in contact with a cancer cell? I know you said it stunts cell growth, but in what way?
Quercetin acts as a tumor supressor by inhibting protein tyrosine kinase (PTK), which prevents the activation of another protein in the pathway, stunning cell growth.
We tested quercetin with radiation first to try to kill two birds with one stone. Testing radiation with our compound, we can test if our quecertin is a radiation protector or radiation amplfifer. With this we can see if quecertin has a syngestic effect with radiation.
The only concern of quercetin drying out our fly food is the ability for our larvae to eat the food. There’s an easy solution to fix this issue, but we noticed quercetin drying out our food too late into the project. Spraying the fly food with water everyday would have prevented the food from dying out. I don’t think it would affect the viablity of the compound as a chemotheraputic.
We choose quecetin over other compounds due to its antiprolifeative activites and it is found in nature. Our other choices included other flavonoids and natural occuring antioxidants, but we finally decided on quercetin as students from previous semesters had researched this compound.
You mentioned food drying up as a possible cause of the variable results. You could add a little bit of water to the top of the food after it solidifies to prevent drying. If doing that reveals that the compound doesn’t have an effect when combined with radiation, what other experiments could you do to determine whether this is a potentially promising chemotherapeutic? In other words, it seems like there is a lot of evidence to suggest that it should work. What if it doesn’t using your current experimental approach? -Pam
Instead of testing quercetin as a combination therapy with radiation, quercetin could be tested indivdually and retested for maximum dose and the 1:2 dilution series.
Since the compound is an antioxidant and works against the free radicals produced by radiation, a different combination therapy might be more benefical such as immunotherapy. This is a guess, but with quercetin’s antiproliferative properties, quercetin would be able to control/slow the growth of the tumor as immunotherapy works kill existing tumors.
This research is very interesting and you show a great level of understanding! It’s interesting that a compound seen commonly in foods we eat regularly can be effective against cancer growth. What is the exact function of the compound when it comes in contact with a cancer cell? I know you said it stunts cell growth, but in what way?
Quercetin acts as a tumor supressor by inhibting protein tyrosine kinase (PTK), which prevents the activation of another protein in the pathway, stunning cell growth.
Why did you decided to try quercetin with radiation before trying quercetin alone?
We tested quercetin with radiation first to try to kill two birds with one stone. Testing radiation with our compound, we can test if our quecertin is a radiation protector or radiation amplfifer. With this we can see if quecertin has a syngestic effect with radiation.
Do you have any concerns about quercetin drying out the food? Would this make quercetin less viable as a theraputic? Great presentation.
The only concern of quercetin drying out our fly food is the ability for our larvae to eat the food. There’s an easy solution to fix this issue, but we noticed quercetin drying out our food too late into the project. Spraying the fly food with water everyday would have prevented the food from dying out. I don’t think it would affect the viablity of the compound as a chemotheraputic.
How did you come to choose to research quercetin over any other compound?
We choose quecetin over other compounds due to its antiprolifeative activites and it is found in nature. Our other choices included other flavonoids and natural occuring antioxidants, but we finally decided on quercetin as students from previous semesters had researched this compound.