Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I wanted to test reaction speeds depending on amounts of eumelanin but I didn't want to actually use people as test subjects. My knowledge on this is rather limited at the moment, but I was wondering whether or not I could measure Eumelanin on different people and replicate the doses using Eumelanin supplements.

Thanks!

Hi,

This is a very interesting and unique idea for a science project. However, I don’t think you would be able to get approval for doing an experiment like this on humans from your local Scientific Review Committee. However, you could do a project using a different organism like a bacteria or fungi. Please let me know why you are interested in eumelanin and what problem you are trying to solve. I’m sure the project could be adapted to something that would be feasible for you to do.

Donna Hardy

Perhaps you can try using a bacteria culture and evaluating whether the eumelanin supplement stops the rate of mutation. There are some strains of bacteria used in science that are very prone to mutations. If you use that strain you can perhaps coat the cover of the Petri dish with eumelanin and test whether it protects the bacteria?
Definitely you cannot use humans for this experiment. This requires from a Scientific Review board.