Schedule and Program - North Carolina Academy of Science

Formation and Characterization of Amoxicillin Cyclodextrin InclusionComplexes.Raja Reddy, Paul, Dr.ShinCampbell School of Pharmacy and Health SciencesCyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccharides which are produced from starch by the action of glycosyltransferases. Themost well known three cyclodextrins are α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrins which contain 6, 7, and 8 glucopyranose unitsrespectively. Cyclodextrins have an interesting property of forming inclusion complexes with wide variety of guestmolecules. The molecular complexation of guest molecules with cyclodextrins alter the physicochemical propertiesof the guest molecules, such as their aqueous solubility, rate of dissolution, bioavailability of hydrophobicmolecules, and stability of the molecules. The drug molecule in this study is Amoxicillin. Amoxicillin whichbelongs to a family of β-lactam antibiotics is used to treat many infections caused by gram-positive and gramnegativebacteria. Amoxicillin, unfortunately, is degraded by the β-lactamases of bacteria. This degradation maybe prevented by the molecular complexation of Amoxicillin with cyclodextrin. The objective of the researchis to form Amoxicillin-Cyclodextrin inclusion complexes and characterize them to determine the types ofinteractions between the Amoxicillin and Cyclodextrin. Different molar ratios of amoxicillin and hydroxypropylb-cyclodextrin(1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4) are used in the inclusion complex formation. The preparation of inclusioncomplexes is accomplished by using a solvent evaporation technique and lyophilization. The characterization ofthe inclusion complex is done by FT-IR, PXRD, Thermo-Analytical methods such as DSC, TGA and NMR.Using qPCR to Discover Variation of Aquatic Microbial CommunitiesAcross the Watersheds of Mount Desert Island, MaineVerrico Boyd* and Parke A. RubleeUNCGMicrobe presence and abundance are largely dependent upon their surrounding habitat (selective communitymodel), but may also be dependent on emigration (neutral community model) Mount Desert Island, Maine is aunique environment to study microbial community assemblage because it contains an abundance of ponds andlakes distributed in watersheds arranged in a north to south orientation separated by mountains. Selected pondsand lakes on Mount Desert Island were sampled during the summer of 2011 by filtering water onto GFF whichwere placed in a CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide)buffer . These samples were then extracted using astandard chloroform-alcohol procedure in order to purify the microbial DNA. Quantitative polymerase chainreaction (qPCR) will be used to determine abundance of target prokaryotic and eukaryotic taxa. Presence andabundance of taxa will then be compared across watersheds to determine if environmental characteristics can belinked to community structure.Changes in Buffy Coat LengthElizabeth Boyette* and John MechamMeredith CollegeA hematocrit is the ratio of packed cells to total volume of blood and it is measured by centrifuging bloodin a hematocrit tube. The red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC=buffy coat), and plasma all havedifferent densities and will separate differentially when centrifuged. The purpose of my research was to attemptto determine why, when incubated at room temperature (20-23°C) for several hours, the buffy coat increases inthickness. Experiments were conducted to determine which variables may affect, initially or after incubation,buffy coat length. Increasing the temperature of incubation to 300°C for 5 hours was determined to be theoptimum temperature and time for buffy coat size increase of 100%; however, a similar doubling of size wasobserved when incubated at room temperature for 5 hours. Decreasing the incubation temperature to 20°C34 - NC Academy of Science