Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
I participated in two teams. One focused on drug discovery and development and the second team focused on drug repurposing and bio entrepreneurship.In the first team, we screened a drug library containing more than 1,500 FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of various infectious diseases and looked for a potential new antibiotic against Citrobacter freundii.We successfully identified Ferrous Sulfate as a potential antibiotic. However, we could not recommend pursuing its development due to iron toxicity and the existence of better alternatives already on the market.The second team focused on drug repurposing. We analyzed a scientific paper that described the intent to repurpose Manidipine dihydrochloride to treat cytomegalovirus. Then, we evaluated and presented its potential market, competitors, clinical trial costs, and if it was viable to pursue its repurposing.