Medical Biotechnology Projects, Lessons, Activities (31 results)
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A lot of medication comes in the form of pills that you need to swallow. But not all pills are the same! Some look like little capsules, others are made of pressed powder. Why are there different types of pills? Different types of pills release their active ingredients in different ways. Some release their active ingredient right after initial administration. Others release their active ingredient much later. Such drugs are called delayed-release drugs. These kinds of pills have to be…
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When you take medicine, it needs to dissolve in order to be passed into your bloodstream to have an effect. On the other hand, the drug needs to be packed into a small, dense pill to make it easier to swallow. How does the delivery method of a drug change how quickly it enters the bloodstream? Compare different brands of a drug to find out which brands dissolve the quickest. Does the pH of the stomach (which is usually between 1 and 2) matter? Compare coated to uncoated pills: does the coating…
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Being sick is no fun, especially when your friends are doing exciting activities that you have to miss out on. Thankfully, common illnesses usually last for just a few days, and then you start to feel better. Why is this? It is thanks to the immune system, which is a group of special organs and cells in your body that constantly work to keep you healthy. In this science project, you will make a simple model to investigate how the immune system defends the human body from common illnesses, and…
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Have you ever heard about different blood types? Do you know what your blood type is? Antibodies
help scientists determine different human blood types. This project is a practical introduction
to the human immune system in which you will learn about what antibodies are, how they are formed,
and how they can be used to identify different types of cells.
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Do you know someone who has an autoimmune disease? Autoimmune diseases are fairly common, affecting more than 23.5 million people in the United States, which is about 1 in 13 people! You may have heard of some of them, such as diabetes (type 1), rheumatoid arthritis, and celiac disease. Many autoimmune diseases are poorly understood, but they all have one thing in common: they happen because a person's immune system (which normally fights off germs to keep the person healthy) attacks the…
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Have you ever wondered why bubbles form when you mix soap and water? Is it possible to mix soap and water without making bubbles? Medical doctors actually study similar questions when they treat patients who have too much gas trapped in their digestive system, which can cause pain and bloating and also signal a serious medical problem. Some drugs, including one called simethicone, can help relieve extra gas in the digestive system. In this science project you will find out how simethicone…
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Scientists recently found that some small drugs can stop infection by the deadly Ebola virus in
its tracks. Lab researchers found that these drugs bind to a protein that the Ebola virus uses to enter
our cells, and this is how infection is prevented. However, this also means that the bound protein no
longer functions in our cells. How might these drugs accidentally disrupt important biological processes
in our bodies? What other proteins might these drugs bind to? In this science project,…
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What do pizza, milk shakes, and ice cream sundaes have in common, besides being delicious and loaded with calories? You might be surprised to learn that these foods, because they contain dairy products, cannot be eaten by the majority of people around the world. Dairy products contain the sugar molecule lactose, and the majority of people on the planet slowly begin to lose the ability to digest lactose after the age of 2. In this human biology and health science fair project, you will…
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Have you ever known someone who had a bad reaction to a prescription drug? Although pharmaceutical companies test new drugs on a large number of people to make sure the drug works the way it is supposed to, often a small percentage of people respond differently to the drug. A person's genetics plays a large role in determining his or her response to a given drug. Our genes are made up of hundreds to millions of nucleotides of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the genetic code. If just a single…
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Antioxidants have become very popular in the news lately for their potential health and anti-aging properties. Antioxidants work by preventing oxidation reactions that produce free-radicals which can cause harm to the body. Try testing different vitamins for antioxidant activity. How do vitamins A, B, C, and E compare? Do some vitamins have more antioxidant activity than others? What are some other sources of antioxidants? Try testing extracts from proposed sources of antioxidants like coffee,…
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