Blog Post Week 3
Today, I met up with Josh again and had a very brief conversation regarding my project. As an overview, my project involves some bacteria and plants or seeds (Medicinal Plants Figurations) based off cancer. As we know, cancer cells replicate very rapidly and non-stop. Bacteria are among the fastest reproducing organisms in the world. With treating cancer being in my back focus, I want to use medicinal plants on bacteria to figure out changes in their behaviors and the plants' effectiveness.
We cannot use cancer cells in the lab, so a type of bacteria is the best alternative. According to a pharmaceutical company research I read about, there is a correlation between cancer patients and bacteria in their bodies either helping them recover sooner or end up dying.
The reason is still vague, but isn't this interesting to even know? I believe this will get us further in cancer treatment discovery.
I have not figured out what type of plants/seeds I will be using, but I did a thorough research on bacteria and cancer types as well as their signs and symptoms. This was useful to me because beside knowing that I want to study cancer cells and be part of curing it, I knew very little about which type I am interested in further studying as well as their signs and symptoms.
For your information, Colon cancer, brain cancer, endometrial and skin cancer caught my attention amongst the rest. Too many? I agree but I will have to say that cancer in general including all types of cancer is very interesting to learn about which is why my focus is still broad.
Thus, this week is for further research, and I am hoping to get started with benchwork by next week.
Millar, Abi. (2021, October 8). Living medicines: using bacteria to fight cancer. Pharmaceutical Technology. https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/analysis/living-medicines-cancer/#:~:text=As%20well%20as%20playing%20a,promise%20in%20treating%20cancer%20directly.&text=In%20th
ReplyDeletePeniella,
This sounds incredible! I love how passionate you are about your field of interest. Cancer has taken several of my family members, unfortunately. My mom is a skin-cancer survivor, my nephew is a Leukemia survivor, and I have many friends and extended family who have beat it, and of course, some who have not. I think it is inspiring to see you choose such an intense field. I believe that from just seeing your focus and wherewithal, you're going to go on to do great things. I also believe that working with bacteria seems like a great alternative to actual cancer cells. Bacteria spreads fast, grows fast, and takes over other cells. In my opinion, that's pretty close to the real deal. I would love to come check out what you're working on when you get going; so fascinating. Good luck this week!
Alex S