Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello, I want to do a project on acne medication and their effectiveness at killing bacteria. I am considering using very common medications like benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, and clindamycin phosphate and testing them on bacteria. I know that I will be purchasing a neutralizing bacteria kit but I still don't know how to test if the medication was really effective. I need a data table for my project, but I don't know what the data I am collecting will be and how to measure it. Thank you for your help.

Hello, I am interested in conducting a research project on how the delivery method of medication affects how it is dissolved. I am going to compare different types of pills (coated vs uncoated & pills vs gel capsules), different brands of pills, and different dosages of pills. I am confused on where to start, I don't know what to do my experiment on and how to get my results in a way that is not too costly. Thank you for your help.

Moderator note:
It looks like this question on drug solubility might be related to your other question about medication for acne? It will help the experts who respond to your questions, to see the questions together! So I've put your two questions together to help them help you! Thanks! If these are two unrelated projects, let me know and I will undue my changes!!


[Admin note: see project https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #procedure]

Hello jas1804,

Great project idea!

I assume that you will be purchasing the "Neutralizing Bacteria Kit", which includes some prepared agar plates, swabs, and E. coli, correct?

One method I used to test the effectiveness of medicine or a compound against bacteria is analyzing the zone of inhibition. One method you could do this is through the use of sensi-discs, which are essentially tiny circular sponges, which you can dip into the medications (liquid form). After you dip them, the medication gets absorbed into the sponges. Then, after bacterial streaking you can immediately place one of the medication-filled sensi-disc on the center of the Petri dish (on top of the streaked bacteria). Then given time time you want to collect data, you can see the 'zone of inhibition' or a clear area deviating out from bacterial growth forming around the discs. The zone shows you the 'killed' bacteria, which is assumed to grow (given the time for your experiment). Therefore, you can measure the diameter or area of the circular zone of inhibition to collect quantitive data. All of this lab work should be done in a certified laboratory, with a fume hood and proper safety equipment.

This experiment by Science Buddies seems to relate to your project idea and it has great information on how to conduct the experiment: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... on#summary.

For additional project ideas, see the Topic Selection Wizard at: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... round-info.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions and I hope this helped.

-OmPatel