Antibiotics are amazing, and one of our best tools for fighting infections and disease. They're literal lifesavers. Unfortunately, more and more bacteria have developed drug-resistance, which means scientists continue to relentlessly hunt for new antibiotics that might show promise for human applications.
Camarria Williams, a middle-schooler from Chicago, thought she was taking part in a program to help researchers identify new antibiotics — and she was. But she may have incidentally stumbled upon a much, much larger discovery.
Through a partnership between the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Boys and Girls Club, middle-school kids went out into their community to collect environmental samples. They grabbed everything from water, insects, flowers, and even bits of debris. The samples were brought to a team of researchers and grad students who helped the kids analyze their samples for potential antibiotic activity. The goal was to, quite literally, grow potential new antibiotics from natural samples.
Camarria took a... let's call it, unique approach. She chose to bring in a sample of goose poop found near a pond in Chicago's Garfield Park.
Photo by Josiah Weiss on Unsplash
Not only did Camarri's stinky sample show antibiotic activity, it also produced an interesting byproduct (and no, not gas). A compound the researchers had never seen before was identified — a huge discovery!
Researchers showed in a lab setting that the new compound found in the goose feces was able to inhibit growth of human cancer cells.
The compound (named orfamide N.) was immediately put to the test, as the researchers knew other, similar compounds (orfamides) had been shown to have cytotoxic effects. Orfamides are used in things like insecticides, antifungals, and more.
Orfamie N. proved capable of slowing growth in human melanoma and ovarian cancer cells, in the laboratory setting.
The findings — a novel compound AND a promising cancer treatment — were substantial enough to be published in the journal ACS Omega. Williams, a kid, was even listed as one of the study's co-authors. What an achievement.
One minute, she's doing a science experiment with the Boys and Girls Club, the next, she's a published researcher!
Obviously, this is far from a "cure" for cancer. Much, much, much more research is needed. But orfamide N. is definitely promising and exciting.
Photo by The fight against cancer requires brutally slow progress over many years, but we are making strides. An experimental new drug recently cured a 13-year-old boy of brain cancer, which was a miraculous milestone. Scientists are looking in all kinds of interesting places to find promising treatments — they've tried bubbles that attack tumors, shark and cow cartilage, urine therapy...
... and now, goose poop can be added to the list.
Camarria's fascinating story may not go on to cure cancer, but it is evidence of a radical new approach to scientific research. Community-based outreach, getting regular people involved — and young people, in particular — is already yielding huge dividends.
If we want to find new antibiotics (which are extremely rare, and most of which won't ever make it to human trials), new cancer treatments, and other new lifesaving discoveries, who better to put on the case than kids? They're curious, resilient, and always manage to think up unique ideas that adults could never dream of.
Goose poop? Really? Only a middle-schooler would think of that, and thank goodness she did.
Jake as a toddler and as an adult with his mom, NickiPhotos courtesy of Jake Bley
