Mitchell, Jon

Dr. Mitchell’s lab has recently collected interesting data surrounding the application of natural products silymarin (isolated from SD native milk thistle) and curcumin (turmeric) as potential therapeutic alternative inhibitors of the opportunistic fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. C. albicans has become antifungal resistant and can generate destructive/evasive biofilms. Both silymarin and turmeric have demonstrated antifungal effects against C. albicans by interacting with the plasma membrane by increasing membrane permeability and inducing oxidative stress (Yun & Lee, 2017b); however, both small molecule’s modes of action remain unclear. Recent data suggests that silymarin and turmeric might interact directly with certain signal transduction pathways. Cytochrome P450 (CYPs) genes code for enzymes that are highly important in biosynthetic pathways for organismal survival. Three (CYP51, CYP52, and CYP61) were chosen for Quantitative Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) to evaluate levels of transcript expression following treatments with silymarin and turmeric with gene expression changes in response to separate treatments with silymarin and turmeric observed. Further analysis of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generation demonstrated silymarin’s ability to induce oxidative stress, strengthening its potential use as an effective fungicidal agent. Utilization of zebrafish as a model genetic organism enables students to study silymarin, turmeric, and other natural product’s anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, immunostimulant antioxidant, antifungal biochemical/molecular actions, offering outstanding year-long opportunities for undergraduates to utilize all of their learnings and apply them to real- world health problems.

Additional aims:

·       Incorporate biochemical/molecular analyses of natural product small-molecules and proteins utilizing zebrafish into  biochemistry/biotechnology/immunology

·       Collaborate with the Westcore facility for additional RNA processing (RNAseq)

·       Engage students in research both during the academic year and summer terms.