“Middle schoolers in Chicago are being celebrated as ‘bonafide biomedical scientists’ after one student delivered some special goose droppings to their science club” that could aid in the fight against cancer, reports Science Alert:
With the supervision of researchers from the University of Illinois, this student carefully isolated a bacterium from the goose poop that showed antibiotic activity. A natural compound produced by this bacterium is wholly new to science, and in the lab, it shows cancer-fighting properties….As part of [a school] project, students were asked to explore their neighborhood for new bioactive compounds. The kids were then taught how to safely grow bacteria and select colonies for further evaluation by university scientists.
The student that brought in the goose feces was able to isolate a species of gram-negative bacteria, Pseudomonas idahonensis. In the lab, researchers found this bacterium could inhibit more than 90 percent of the growth of a gram-positive bacteria species that can cause skin infections….[as the research] team writes in a published and peer-reviewed paper on the discovery.
The middle schooler who found the bird poop is listed as a co-author. The Pseudomonas bacterium not only showed antibiotic properties, it also produced a novel natural product, called orfamide N, which has not been seen by scientists before. Previously discovered orfamides are known to have useful medical properties, so the team investigated this one further. In the lab, orfamide N slowed the growth of melanoma and ovarian cancer cells.
As dangerous bacteria around the world grow resistant to today’s arsenal of antibiotics, scientists are desperately searching for new medicine…The discovery of natural product antibiotics peaked in the mid-1950s, but since then, there has been a dangerous decline in this type of drug development….Finding new antibiotics takes years of testing.
Other scientific advances have occurred recently. Scientists have created tiny robots to repair damaged cells, and nanorobots to destroy cancerous tumors.
A genetically-modified chicken lays eggs that people allergic to eggs can eat. Scientists have genetically engineered a cow that produces human insulin in its milk.
Genetic engineering recently produced pork that people who are allergic to pork can eat.
Gene therapy has also ended the years of excruciating pain suffered by a boy with sickle-cell disease.
It also has restored vision in some people with inherited blindness.
An English toddler has had her hearing restored in a pioneering gene therapy trial.
