Dr. Monique van Hoek's Laboratory
Potential 2012 Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Projects
* Laboratory located at Mason's Prince William Campus
1. Antimicrobial Peptides
Antimicrobial peptides are small peptides that act against bacteria. Students will be assigned a peptide and will explore its activity against various pathogens, including multidrug resistant bacteria. Students will also design rational variants of their peptide in order to improve its performance characteristics. Skills taught will include (1) bacterial culturing, McFarland standards, CLSI standards. (2) antimicrobial peptide assays (3) biofilm assays (4) hemolytic assays (5) cytotoxicity assays (6) advanced data analysis (IC50 plots, etc), (7) bioinformatic analysis of peptide sequence and prediction of structure. This project can accommodate more than one student. Each student will study a different peptide.
2. Novel Antibiotics
Novel antibiotics are critically needed. Students will be assigned candidate compounds which have potential to be antibiotics to explore their activity against various pathogens, including multidrug resistant bacteria. These may be natural products or chemically synthesized molecules. Students will also design checkerboard assays to determine synergistic or antagonistic activity. Skills taught will include (1) bacterial culturing, McFarland standards, CLSI standards. (2) MIC assays (3) biofilm assays (4) cytotoxicity assays (5) advanced data analysis (IC50 plots, etc), (6) bioinformatic analysis of bacterial genomes to identify possible drug targets (7) advanced literature searches to develop the background of the antibiotic and its potential mode of action. This project can accommodate more than one student. Each student will study a different antibiotic.