Middle Schooler Discovers Goose Poop With Cancer-Fighting Properties
A group of middle schoolers from the Boys and Girls Club in Chicago collected potential cancer-fighting goose poop in an Illinois park.
One student, 13-year-old Camarria Williams, collected the sample of goose feces. She's a member of the club and was recruited by the University of Illinois at Chicago to partake in a 14-week science program for young people to learn about careers in the field.
The focus of the program was getting hands-on experience, and they certainly did just that. For this specific project, club members were asked to explore their neighborhoods for bioactive compounds, getting them involved in the research team's search for new antibiotics.
Williams found the sample in Garfield Park Lagoon in Chicago. To examine her collections, it was placed on an agar plate and under a microscope.
"My mom feeds the animals and I know birds eat everything and anything. I knew there must be some bacteria in it," Williams told The Washington Post.
In the program, club members were taught how to isolate bacteria and track antimicrobial activity. Upon investigation, they found that the goose poop contained a bacterium with antibiotic activity—Pseudomonas idahonensis.
Researchers, such as this team at Osaka University, have found that antibiotic activity may aid in cancer care.
Along with its antibiotic properties, the Pseudomonas bacterium produced a novel natural product—orfamide N—which is new to scientists and contains cancer-fighting properties, specifically for ovarian and skin cancer.
Even though more research needs to be done on the goose feces, the bacteria’s cancer-fighting and antibiotic-producing potential has sparked interest—underscoring the value of community.
“I think the most rewarding part for me is seeing the progress as kids became more confident in themselves over time,” said Jin Yi Tans, one of the lab researchers, earlier in the year.
Lab researcher and program director, Brian Murphy agrees. He told Fox Weather that even though the discovery is a long way from being developed into a drug—if pursued at all—the real take-away is that universities can serve their communities through initiative-driven projects.
