Booth Id:
CELL006
Category:
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Year:
2021
Finalist Names:
Mehta, Dev (School: WP Davidson High School)
Abstract:
The research objective of this experiment was to determine out of pomegranate, lemon, ginger, and turmeric extracts, which natural substance would best hinder the growth of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. Additionally, this experiment tested the effects of treating each type of extract in different dilutions to simulate the effect of drug discovery pathways. For each extract type, the dilutions were the control (no dilution), 1:1000, 1:500, and 1:250. The dependent variable for this experiment is the mean percent change in colony count with respect to the control samples and the mean colony count after extract treatment. The hypothesis of this experiment is that the 1:250 concentration of lemon extract will be the most successful in hindering E. coli bacterial growth. During experimentation, extracts were created through pulp extraction, and colony count data was collected using ImageJ Imaging Software. Based on the results of this experiment, the hypothesis that the 1:250 dilution of lemon extract would be the most successful in hindering E. coli growth was rejected. Instead, treatments with the 1:250 dilution of ginger extract had a significantly higher hindrance of growth relative to the control group.