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Presentation
The New Penicillin?
University of Central Florida (2017)
  • Nikki Huynh, University of Central Florida
Abstract
Clostridium difficile infects and kills 30,000-40,000 people a year in the United States. In order to target and minimize the spread of C. difficile we are screening puupehenone, a natural marine product that is excreted from some species of sponges and coral as a defense mechanism, and repurposing its role for medical use. Our research primarily focuses on determining puupehenone’s antimicrobial properties. This was determined by testing the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of puupehenone as it relates to a single strain of C. difficile, and then observing whether the antimicrobial properties hold across multiple strains of the bacterium. The strain of C. difficile exposed to the MIC of puupehenone displayed significantly less growth than the control. With this information, we could determine if this antimicrobial is potent enough to prevent growth of general forms of C. difficile and could even be distributed commercially into the pharmaceutical market.
Keywords
  • Clostridium Difficile,
  • antimicrobial,
  • puuphehone,
  • bacteria
Publication Date
Spring April 12, 2017
Location
Orlando
Citation Information
Nikki Huynh. "The New Penicillin?" University of Central Florida (2017)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nikki-huynh/1/