Neem oil

[deleted-121394]

Hi Experts,
This year, for the Science Fairs, I might work on neem (Azadirachta indica) oil and extract from it some active compounds and to use it against autoimmune disease, such as crohn's disease and I also have other ideas using mushrooms. But, either way, I don't know if it has been already done or not. So, would you please tell me if neem oil has already been used for Crohn's disease or other autoimmune diseases, such as psoriasis or is there a way to assure that an experiment has never been done before? Plus, if it has been already done, how can we modify the protocole to do a much advanced experiment? It's my first year of working on an experiment, last year, I did a study. So, would you please kindly help me?

Thank you,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi, Minuja,

This is an interesting application and very challenging for a science project. Neem oil has been used to treat a wide variety of conditions including inflammatory diseases like Crohn’s disease; however, I could not find any scientific studies on the topic that used double blind studies to verify the effectiveness of the neem oil. There are lots of nonscientific sources of information on this topic, but I think that any project you do on this subject will be unique. This is the closest item I could find on the subject that was, a website from a medical center that makes a statement about the safety of neem oil.

http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/Conditi ... nkID=21814

In a science project of this type, you need to design an experiment that can be done in a test tube. What type of lab do you have available to work in? To help you identify a potential experiment, here is a website from another medical center that includes lots of references on Crohn' deasese. I would recommend starting with the review article and try to find a reference that is not based on clinical studies with patients.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/croh ... 000043.htm

I hope this helps you get started. Do let us know if you need more information.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Donna Hardy,
I would like to thank you for your wonderful help. For the lab, I didn't met my mentor yet. So, I unfortunately don't know what kind of lab I will have access. I will review the articles as you've suggested me and if I have any other questions, I will post them later on.

Thank you again,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minuoja,

Thank-you for your reply. Please do let me know if you have more questions as you continue your project.


Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Donna Hardy,
Thank for your e-mail. I would like to ask you a question. A Dr. from an University in Montreal kindly accepted to help me troughout my project and he asked me to call him back to decide whenever we will meet to discuss. I called him yesterday and he was not at his office. So, I left him a message with my phone number and my e-mail. I didn't get any response from Dr. Mourad yet. Should I call him back / e-mail him or should I still wait? Could you please help me?

Sincerely,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minouja,

This is excellent if you have a mentor! Generally professors are very busy and may not be able to reply to phone messages right away. Do you have Dr. Mourad's e-mail address? If so, send him a polite message with a request to specify a time for a follow up phone call or meeting to discuss your project. If you don't have an e-mail address, then wait another day or two and give Dr. M a chance to get back to you. Do you have an idea of what type of experiment you will be doing? What is Dr. Mourad's area of research?

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Donna Hardy,
Thank you very much for your quick response. Your help is very useful for my project and I appreciate that a lot.
For my project, I tought of extracting an active compound of a plant. I am currently thinking of working on ''Ayurvedic'' plants. I visited this website throught pubmed that I attached to my mail. I would like to use a compound for a disease. I thought of testing my compound on cells. I would like to extract my compound throught solid-phase extraction IS. But, I've also thought of another step before extracting: dry lab (with a program to see if the molecule can be used for x disease). My mentor is working on infections,immunity and inflammation. He has an immunology lab: http://www.chumtl.qc.ca/crchum/chercheu ... -w.fr.html

I also contacted a Dr in Germany because I couldn't get a full article, so I wrote him so that he can send me the full article. He is working on (exactly) what I would like to do during my project: http://www.uni-muenster.de/MCGS/members/Hensel.html

Also, another sort of experiment I could do is to see if a combination of extracts is better or not than the extracts individually because while I was reading scientic articles,I read some researchers who did that. I would like to know what are your suggestions please for my project.

Thank you very much,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minuoja,

It looks like you will have access to a laboratory with cell culture facilities. You can confirm this with Dr Mourad. With this type of resource you will be able to do a carefully controlled experiment with dosage studies. The professor you will be working with looks like he publishes a lot of papers, which is good. Thanks for posting the paper; I will read it and give you some suggestions. You could also look at some of Dr. Mourad’s papers to see if there is a technique that is being used in the lab that you could adapt to the Neem oil project.
I will post again within a day or two.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you very much for your kind reply. I will, as you suggest me, look Dr. Mourad's articles.
Thank you,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

This is an excellent review article, but I have only read part of it so far. The following are some questions and comments that hopefully will help you think more about the details of your project.

You had said that this article contained exactly what you wanted to do, and I am curious. Is there specific topic among the several hundred pharmacological effects of various plants reported in this article that you are interested in? Or, is it just the general subject area that you want to investigate?

One interesting thing that I have noticed so far is that the reported studies were done using water or organic solvent extracts of the various plants. So the samples tested contained an unknown mixture of chemicals. It seems to me that to make progress in understanding how the traditional herbal medicines work, it will be necessary to purify the components, or at least quantitate the potential active ingredients. For example, Neem oil contains many steroids and triterpenoids along with a mixture of fatty acids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem_oil

So, if you use a sample of Neem oil for your experiments, you will need some way to verify the composition of the sample you are using.

Neem oil has been used for a variety of applications including anti microbial, insecticide, and inflammatory skin conditions. You need to be flexible, of course, depending on the resources available in Dr. Mourad’s lab, but is there a particular effect that you would like to study? You will be doing a science fair project, so the scope of your investigation will have to be very narrow.

Also, I have noticed so far that most of the studies mentioned in the review article have been done using rat or mice to study the effects of the herbal medicines. If you were to do animal study, there will be lots of restrictions and requirements and you will need to get approval from the local scientific review committee. However, an animal study would be a good way to investigate this subject.

I’ll post again later after I’ve finished reading the article.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
I would like to thank you for your reply and wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year!
For my project, I will follow your suggestions. But, I have a problem, my mentor is not responding me and I don't know what to do since I don't have a lot of time to do my project. I think I will write him back, but I don't want to disturb him. Could you please help me?

Thank you very much,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minuoja,

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. Your professor may have left for the holidays without having had time to respond to your request. The only thing I can think of doing is to call or visit the lab and find out if there is anyone in charge who will be working through the holidays and see if they can help. Usually in labs like this, there is one person in charge who would be the person actually helping with your project. You will have to be very polite and make an inquiry about when the professor might return, and if it will be more than a day or two, ask if there is someone else who can help you with your project.

You are right; you don’t have much time to do an experiment, but there is still time to do one and turn your project in by the February deadline.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,

Thank you very much for your kind reply and for your suggestion that I will follow. But I would like to know something. I know what I want to do on the whole for my project, but I can't define precisely what plant do I want to test and for which disease. Is there a procedure that you would suggest me which would help me to get a narrow down my subject? Also, I know that I can also do again an experiment that has been already done by modifing the protocole. Can you give me an example please?

Sincerely,
Minuoja Chandramohan

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

Dr. Mourad’s specialty is infection and immunity so you should consider a project in this area. Looking at one of Dr. Mourad’s recent papers, you can read about the techniques used to study systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22110533

You would not be able to do the clinical patient studies in a science project, but you could possibly grow t-cells in tissue culture and measure inflammatory cytokines like TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IFN gamma. There are assays for these cytokines available, and it sounds like Dr. Mourad has the materials and equipment that you would need to do an experiment like this. So you could still do your project on Neem (Azadirachta indica) oil, but you would measure cytokine response in tissue culture. Why don’t you do a Google search on these cytokines? It’s a fascinating topic that I think will be very interesting to you.

Have you heard from Dr. Mourad?

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you so much for your reply. Thank you for the article, I will look at it as you suggested me. The idea you gave me on measuring cytokine response in tissue culture is actually the topic on which I was currectly doing research on. Thank you for your idea, you've convinced me to work on cytokines since I wasn't sure about it... But, I also had another idea today on melanin. Since tyrosine is a precursor to the pigment melanin, that supplement of Tyrosine helps Psoriasis and that Caucasians are more affected by psoriasis and skin cancer, I thought that melanin might treat psoriasis. Do you think that I should work on cytokine or melanin?

Unfortunately, I've didn't heard of Dr. Mourad yet. I thought of calling at the department where he works tomorrow as you suggest me.

Thank you very much,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

You are definitely on the right track for selecting a topic. Dr. Mourad has not published any papers on psoriasis, but this disease is also based on an abnormal response of T-cells. Therefore a treatment that interferes with production of the associated cytokines would be a very relevant project. Cytokines that have been associated with the inflammatory response and monitored with psoriasis include IL6, IL7, IL8, TNF alpha and IFN-gamma. This would also be an excellent experiment that could be done with in tissue culture rather than with a patient sample.

When you do reach someone at the lab, you should discuss the possibility or doing either project. Let me know what happens.


Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you for you fast reply. I will read the articles of Dr. Mourad as you suggested me, try to find an extract to test (neem oil or other extracts ) and plan a detailed protocole for an experiment associated to cytokines. Then, when I will contact Dr. Mourad, I will, as you suggest me, speak to him about my 2 ideas of project and decide which one is better. I will write to you if I have any questions about the extract of plant. But, for now, you've helped me enough.

Thank you very much and I wish you a happy new year,
Minuoja

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you again for your help. I'm writting you again since I've decided to write to other researchers since Dr. Mourad is not responding. Would you please help me improve and correct my letter before sending it to the researchers if I post it in this Forum?

Thank you,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minuoja,

I would be happy to review a letter for you if you want to post it on this forum. You can upload the document as an attachment.

It is disappointing that you have not heard back from Dr. Mourad. I’m sure there is a good explanation. I don’t know if you could contact another researcher in time to get started and complete a project within the next 7 weeks, but it’s worth a try.

You should also think about what you can do on your own. Do you need to complete a project for a science class? If so, then you should pick out a project from the Science Buddies website that you can do on your own at home. There are many excellent projects and you will learn something about science by doing any of them. Another possibility would be to analyze the Neem oil as a preliminary project to decide what to use when you are able to obtain access to a lab. You would need a method to analyze the Neem oil.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you for your support and help for my project. I've uploaded the document as you asked me to.

In the case of my project, I will present it at the Regional Science Fair of Montreal and I'm not representing my school, but an organization that promotes Science. I have to send my written report before February 20th 2011. But, the regional Science Fair will take place by the end of March 2011. Plus, I would like to participate at Intel next year since I've already got an invitation from Intel since I won a Gold Medal at the national Science Fairs this year with another project.

I will, as you suggest me, analyse my preliminary project, if I am not able to do my experiment. Plus, I could maybe, as you suggest me, also do a project from Science buddies website.

But I really hope to do my experiment and I wanted to know, do you think I can do this experiment at a chemistry lab or biochemistry lab?

Thank you,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minuoja,

You have written a great letter! You have presented your qualifications in winning science competitions and you have clearly stated your request for assistance. You have obviously done your background research in identifying a researcher with similar interests that you have. I have just a couple of suggestions that might help expedite a reply:

1. Start the letter by stating something like: “I am writing to request your assistance in obtaining access to laboratory facilities for my science fair project” Then immediately continue with your name and background information. With this introduction, Dr. Fournier will know immediately what your letter is about.

2. Then in the second paragraph, after you mention the literature study, instead of saying, “I’ve decided to work on autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases,” just state that you think that the prospect of doing research on autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases is very intriguing, (or you find this topic very interesting.) The rest of your second paragraph is excellent.

3. For your very last sentence, instead of asking Dr. Fournier to distribute your request, you could state that you realize she is very busy, and if it is not possible for her to respond to your request, could she think of someone else to refer you to? That way, if Dr. Fournier can’t help, at least you will have the name of someone else who might be able to help. And when you contact that person, you can start with, “Dr. Fournier recommended that I contact you……”

Do keep all of your options open and try to contact Dr. Mourad again on Monday or Tuesday (whenever the holidays are officially over).

Also, since your letter contains personal information, you should delete the file as soon as possible. We’re not supposed to share personal information on this website; it’s an important safety rule.

Good luck!!! Let me know if you receive a reply.


Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you so much for your wonderful help, you are such a nice person! I will consider your suggestions and modify my letter and finally send it to Dr. Sylvie. Plus, I will try to contact Dr. Mourad when the holidays are officially over, but it is unfortunately not next week, but the week after. I also deleted the document as you asked, I'm sorry, I completely forgot that we weren't able to share personnal information.

Thank you again,
Minuoja

[deleted-121394]

Dear Donna Hardy,
I hope you are fine! I have a wonderful news to tell you: I called Dr. Mourad this morning and then he called me back, I will go meet him tomorrow at 10h30 am, he is so nice and a wonderful person. I am really excited and happy, thank you again for your help. I would like to know on which subject do you think I should do research on for tomorrow.

Thank you again,
Minuoja

[donnahardy2]

Hi Minuoja,

This is wonderful news! I think you will be able to do your project now. You can describe the ideas for your cytokine projects, but ask Dr. Mourad if he has any other suggestions. If he has laboratory reagents available for you to use immediately, he may be able to suggest a suitable project that is in your area of interest that you can start on right away. Anything you are able to do in this lab will be an invaluable experience, so do keep all of your options open. Let me know what happens.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-121394]

Dear Ms. Donna Hardy,
Thank you for your help, I will post a reply tomorrow after the meeting to tell you what happenned.

Minuoja