Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I've been doing preliminary research on how cancer cells can get their energy from glycolysis. I was thinking about simulating glycolysis (whether through yeast or using a science kit) and then testing how well certain natural inhibitors work to prevent the glycolysis process. The problem is I am not too clear on what my dependent variable should be. Testing for carbon dioxide or something else? If it is carbon dioxide, is there an inexpensive way for me to test for this? Any guidance will be much appreciated!

Hi TranH,

Testing for carbon dioxide production is a good way to monitor glycolysis. And it's fairly easy to collect carbon dioxide in a water-filled graduated cylinder to measure the amount produced.

There is a Science Buddies project at the following link that includes an experiment similar to the one you propose.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ic#summary

The project procedure describes a method for collecting and measuring the amounts of carbon dioxide produced under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. You may be able to modify the experiment for the test conditions you want to study.

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman