Protecting Cells from UV Damage

Overview

Since ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight damages the DNA of living cells, protecting cells is important to lead a healthy life. One way cells could be protected is through the use of natural antioxidants. Real world applications include skin cancer prevention, sunscreen development, food preservation, and increased protection of organisms from UV radiation. The objective of this experiment was to find the cell viability percentages of yeast samples with different natural antioxidants when exposed to UV radiation for 15 minutes. It was hypothesized that if yeast cells are treated with a combination of antioxidants, then the cell viability percentage would be the highest. The experimenter created samples of yeast with single amounts and different combinations of antioxidants, and placed each sample under a UV lamp. Afterwards, the experimenter conducted a trypan blue dye test on the yeast samples, allowing the cell viability percentage to be calculated. The results showed that yeast samples with a combination of all four antioxidants had the highest cell viability percentage due to synergistic antioxidant effects which occurs when antioxidants are combined. The results showed that the combination of green tea extract and curcumin was the second most effective, while the combination of Vitamin C and Vitamin E was less effective compared to green tea and curcumin antioxidants by themselves. These results showed that the hypotheses were partially supported. One future improvement is using an automated cell counter. Further research includes increasing the amount of antioxidant quantity and increasing the UV exposure time on the samples.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology (Junior Division) · Entry J-04-11

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