Team:Stony Brook/HP/Gold Integrated
Integrated Human Practices
When we sat down to brainstorm the types of antimicrobial peptides we could use to tackle MRSA, we researched various scientific literature and listed a variety of bacteriocins that were plausible candidates to potentially kill MRSA. Unfortunately, we came upon various hurdles throughout each step of our journey. We seeked out the expertise from professors and medical professionals to analyze the issues at hand and integrate their suggestions into our work.
We met with Dr. Jarrod French, a researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University. During the conversation with Dr. French, we learned that several characteristics of our chosen bacteriocins were not feasible to experiment with and use for marketing in the future. In order to mass produce the bacteriocin as a product on the market, it would need to be expressed in E. coli and easily purified and stored. The key issues with our peptides and the implications we needed to consider were:
Once it came time to testing our bacteriocins against MRSA and Staphylococcus aureus, Dr. Sangeet Honey, a researcher and professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Stony Brook University, offered us his advice and supplies to help the process go as smoothly as possible. Without his dedication to our team, we would not have been able to complete our testing in a BSL 2 lab.
