Dirt, Plants, and Life Saving Research

Aidan Williams is a senior majoring in Human Health. He was awarded a Spring 2017 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on treatments for postpartum infection under Dr. James Lyles.

Part 1: Why Plants?

People often ask me about the type of work that I do in my lab. Working for Dr. Cassandra Quave has been the most educational and engaging experience I’ve had at Emory, but I’d be hesitant to tell people right up front that our work derives use from plants. There seems to be a huge gap in understanding as to where our medicine came from in the first place and where it comes from now. To be frank, the vast majority of our antibiotics that we have are derived from soil. Think about it; dust and particles in the Earth, thousands of years old, have come in contact with some of the most deadly microbes that we can imagine, but have continued to exist all this time. Plants are no different, and are responsible for a large portion of medications that have been brought to market. As to the second question, where we get our medications now, we are starting to see a lot of problems specifically with antibiotics because not much has changed. Since the 80s, pharmaceutical companies haven’t looked much into new antibiotic development because the chemical makeups that they uncovered from soil and plants worked – for the time being. If you’ve heard of antibiotic resistance, that’s what I’d say my lab deals with. This is nothing new, of course, but it always surprises people. When I see plants, I see cures and a hotbed of potential. When others see plants, they may see something supposed to sit on a windowsill. It is important to make this distinction and to respect and investigate the trials of selective pressure that nature has been through, as they may lead us to solutions to man-made problems today.

Part 2: Why Me?

My journey in the Quave Lab began in the Fall 2016 course atlas. After taking a class with Dr. Quave I had general understandings of the importance of traditional medicine and the culture that plants house for many communities. It was not until I had a personal conversation with her that I understood the magnitude of her work; once I understood this, I became enthralled with the idea of contributing and learning as much as I could. As a Human Health major and WGSS minor, my interests intersect in women’s health. I have always been fascinated by maternal health and how social facets can manifest themselves in tangible, biological outcomes. In addition, the negligence that has cast a shadow on advances in women’s health and healthcare is a very real problem that I’d like to address and mitigate with my work. In terms of the Quave lab, I focus on maternal health by analyzing the efficacy of a specific plant to mitigate postpartum infection and postpartum hemorrhage.

Part 3: Process

My scientific process began with scanning through countless studies to compile a list of plants that have been used traditionally for maternal health purposes. After this, I ran the names through the USDA to determine which I had access to, and from there I had narrowed my search to a plant with many uses outside of maternal health, but that I felt warranted another look in terms of how it can impact the postpartum period. The plant is Momordica charantia L., colloquially called bitter melon or bitter gourd. It piqued my interest because of its documented use as an abortifacient; I figured that if it induces abortion, it must somehow act on the uterus, and further research and reading confirmed that hypothesis within other plants in the genus. My initial steps were very technical and occurred in the phytochemistry lab; I obtained two varieties of bitter melon from India and China and put them through a maceration protocol to extract their bioactive components into a chemical solvent. My steps after this were to concentrate this solvent and to dry it out into a powder through a number of different mechanical and chemical processes. I’ve prepared eight separate extracts of varying type, solvent, and freshness, and have moved on to culturing cells and bacteria in the microbiology lab for our extracts to test against

Part 4: Forwards

The next steps of my project will consist of determining the extent to which my extracts will kill bacteria found in postpartum infections and the extent to which my extracts will contract uterine cells. Although the second part of this seems odd, its principle is very simple: in postpartum hemorrhage, uterine contractions shunt blood away from the area as cells squeeze and let less blood through. This is typically the role of oxytocin, but for some mothers, it is not enough to stop the bleeding.

Part 5: Significance

I hope that my project will contribute to movements and databases aimed at mitigating antibiotic resistance not only in already-resistant bacteria, but will slow the process by offering new drug leads to bacteria that have the possibility of gaining resistance. Postpartum hemorrhage and postpartum infection are among the top causes of maternal deaths around the world, and in the United States, we are witnessing a resurgence of maternal deaths due to a variety of factors. Through the development of alternative methods and treatments to mitigate maternal burdens, I hope to contribute something innovative and effective to the best of my ability to the maternal health community.

Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Independent Research Grants.