Today in Organic Chemistry we learned about epoxides. It wasn't that cool. But for the last half of the class Dr. Savage had us put away our notes and we talked about why OChem is important. He started talking about 'antimicrobial peptides.' These proteins are one of the defenses that our bodies use to kill bacteria.
Chemists and biologists are working on synthesizing a new class of molecules called Ceragenins. These molecules mimic the effects of our bodies' antimicrobial peptides and are capable of killing bacteria. Upon further research I learned that my professor, Dr. Paul Savage, invented these ceragenins. He told us in class that it was likely that these antibiotics will available for human trials.
Today I got so excited about biology and chemistry that I just had to blog about it.
I really just love my major!
Glad you love it, and very glad that people like Dr. Savage are using it to make us safer from bacteria, but I have to admit that most of what you have told me and most of what I have read goes over my head. It's a good thing that everyone gets to choose her own major, because it sounds like you have found the right one for you. Have fun!
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Mom
I'm with your mom--most of that is over my head! But is sounds really cool!!
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