A Green Molecular Approach Towards Multifunctional Antifungal Coatings from Plant Oils

Overview

Protective green coatings are advantageous because they are eco-friendly and sustainable. With stringent environmental regulations, there has been a growing interest in utilizing renewable natural resources as candidates for manufacturing eco-friendly coatings (Hermens et al., 2020). The purpose of this study was to advance current protective coatings through a combination of mixed oils. The oils were placed under direct sunlight to form cured films on maple wood. The curing chemistry and its effect on chemical resistance, water resistance and thermal stability were characterized and evaluated by infrared spectroscopy, 13C NMR, solvent immersion, water contact angle and thermogravimetric analysis. It was hypothesized that the unsaturation in the oil chemical compositions would impact their curing ability and fungal inhibition. The oil-coated samples were placed on agar petri dishes that were spread with White-rot fungi. The diameters of growth inhibition for each sample were measured over six days using an Agar diffusion assay. The results from a two-way ANOVA with the replication method showed that the seed oils had a significant effect (F(6, 588) = 203.0904; p < 0.001). A post-hoc Tukey test showed significant differences in pairwise comparisons between different oil coatings. By mixing with a small fraction of tung oil, both linseed and soybean oils showed curing rates at least two times faster than individual oils and demonstrated much better inhibition of growth against fungi. This class of green natural seed oil coatings could be beneficial both economically and socially, given their high abundance, low cost, and environmental friendliness. SOUTHWEST Optimizing Methods for Analysis of Novel Corona-Virus SARS-CoV-2 Receptor ACE2 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms William Burris San Juan College High School, Farmington, NM Mentor, Dr. Veronica Evans, San Juan College, Professor of Biology SARS-CoV-2 is a quickly evolving world pandemic. To understand this virus better and prepare for future variants, understanding the spike-receptor interactions is important. SARS-CoV-2 attaches to the angiotensin cleaving ACE2 protein. This protein has several known polymorphisms that are suspected to change SARS- CoV-2 binding affinity and thus affect COVID-19 severity. Three common polymorphisms were selected for study and had ligation and PCR primers constructed. A section of the ACE2 gene is amplified through PCR and a ligation is ran on the amplified section to detect if the ACE2 gene had the polymorphism or wild-type sequence. Polymorphisms found in the four corners area population have the potential to help understand how single nucleotide mutations may affect SARS-CoV-2 infections. The materials and machines used are affordable and common, showing that a small lab with motivated undergraduates can obtain this information. Gaining demographic data in a small lab will increase the viability of other small labs to do the same, which will increase the speed of advancements in COVID-19 research. The purpose of this study was to find the optimal conditions for these procedures before human testing begins.

Competition history

• JSHS 2022 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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