Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Microbiology/Immunology/Virology
Joycemary Amponsem - Howard University
Co-Author(s): Ndeye Adiara Ndiaye-Diop, Ben Cisse, Matar Fiaye, Assane Senghor, Cheikhou Kane, and Mohamed Mansour Diallo, Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria has forced the scientific community to find alternative methods in combatting microbial based infections and diseases. One promising solution is extracting antimicrobial anecdotes from nature itself. Based on past research it has been confirmed that the Hibiscus sabdariffa plant has antimicrobial activity. This project seeks to delve deeper and find which sample of the juice of Hibiscus sabdariffa known as Bissap in Senegal exhibits the most antimicrobial activity. Before the antimicrobial testing was begun a thorough chemical analysis was done of 9 dilutions of each of the 4 samples. The parameters for the chemical test were pH, sugar content, and the concentration of anthocyanins. For the microbial assay the antimicrobial properties of the samples were tested with the infection of Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicanes. The infected samples were then incubated overnight and observed the next day. At the macroscopic level all of the samples showed high antimicrobial activity at the highest dilutions and no microbial inhibition at the lowest tested dilutions. Future research will be done to infect the solution samples with more microbial strains in hopes of having a more precise characterization of the antimicrobial activity. Also, further tests will be done to see which solution has the best anti-inflammatory response.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to Lorraine Fleming, Wayne Patterson, and Mohamed Chouikha, Principal and Co-Principal Investigators of the Global Education, Awareness and Research Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP), Howard University, Washington, DC.
Faculty Advisor: Stacie LeSure, hugearup@gmail.com
Role: With the guidance of students/faculty at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop I prepared the dilutions for each of the samples, found the pH and sugar concentration of each dilution of each sample, found the absorbance (concentration of anthocyanins) of each sample except one that has no pigment, and infected the samples with two microbes to observe possible antimicrobial activity.