Document Type

Paper- Restricted to Campus Access

Publication Date

4-22-2021

Faculty Mentor

Anthony Lobo

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance poses a serious health risk and according to the CDC in the U.S. alone, it causes more than 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths per year. Misuse and overuse of these antibiotics have contributed to this significant problem of antibiotic resistance. This resistance develops when harmful bacteria change or adapt in a way that reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics. Many approaches to combat this crisis have been sought out, and more recently drug delivery through carbon nanotubes has been created. However, the use of carbon nanotubes as vehicles in these systems has been limited to cancer research and molecules with conjugated p systems. This specific study aims to create a carbon nanotube drug delivery system for clarithromycin that has the potential to be applied to a wider range of antibiotics. The proposed system contains two components, a cysteine functionalized carbon nanotube and a cysteine-clarithromycin conjugate, that can be reversibly linked together through a disulfide bond. Thus far, we have made progress in a cysteine-clarithromycin conjugate, as well as a revised synthesis and deprotection of the cysteine functionalized carbon nanotubes.

Comments

Presented as part of the Ursinus College Celebration of Student Achievement (CoSA) held April 22, 2021.

The downloadable file is a poster presentation with audio commentary.

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