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CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE Western Illinois University Undergraduate Research Day 2016 PosterPresentation CytotoxicDeterminationofaPotentialandNovelOvarianCancerDrug GabrielaGarciaandRandahlC.Nickerson FacultyMentor:MetteSoendergaard Chemistry Approximately21,290womenwillbediagnosedwithovariancancerthisyear,andabout14,180ofthem will die. Ovarian cancer involves the growth of malignant ovarian cells. These cells grow at such an abnormalrate,thattheyformtumors.Currently,thereisnotreatmentforovariancancer. Peptideshavebeenrapidlygrowingasaviabletreatmentforcancercellsfortheearlypartofthe21st century.Apeptide(J18)isknowntobindtoovariancancercells,andpreliminarydatashowsthatthis peptideiscytotoxic.ThismeansthatJ18maybeapotentialchemotherapeuticdrugforovariancancer. However, in order to use J18 as a drug, the toxicity and the mechanism behind it must be further elucidated. Inthisresearchstudy,thecytotoxicityofpeptideJ18willbetestedagainstovariancancercells.Thiswill initially be done by a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, which measures the cell viability after incubation with peptide J18. Both the optimal peptide concentration andincubationtimewithcellswillbedetermined.Next,themechanismofcytotoxicitywillbeevaluated using a caspase assay, which measures the levels of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in the cells. If theJ18peptidekillsthecellsviaapoptosis,itcanpotentiallybecomeanewdrugusedtotreatovarian cancer.