Work on extractions, screening of antibacterial and antifungal activity, and on the purification by flash chromatography to get the single chemical entities that make up the endophyte so they can then identify compounds by NMR, UPLCMS, GCMS, UV, etc.

Historically, thousands of different species of plants have been reported as being useful for the treatment of cancer. In the 1950’s, modern medicine began more systematically examining natural organisms as a source of useful anti-cancer substances. It has recently been argued that 'the use of natural products has been the single most successful strategy in the discovery of novel medicines.” As a part of IALR’s drug discovery program, researchers have collected a number of plants from different areas throughout Virginia and isolated bacterial endophytes. Extracts and fractions from these organisms are being screened for anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal activity. Purified compounds from responsible fractions are characterized by NMR, UPLCMS, GCMS, UV etc. The intern will work on extractions, screening of antibacterial and antifungal activity, and on the purification by flash chromatography to get the single chemical entities that make up the endophyte so they can then identify compounds by NMR, UPLCMS, GCMS, UV, etc.