Meeting with Anne

In order to confirm our final idea, we arranged a meeting with Anne to discuss if our idea was appropriate. From this meeting it was noted that our podcast had to present something that was relatively new. After the meeting Steph and I used various journals and news articles in order to find out something recent relating to plants and medicine. To our surprise, we found that that a protein of a particular plant could possibly be a cure for cancer. Prigg (2013) noted that the flower of the Nicotiana planet, in which researchers have identified a molecule that usually fights off fungi and bacteria also, has the ability to identify and destroy cancer.

 Furthermore, Macbeth (2014) states that, the defence molecule, called NaD1, works by forming a pincer-like structure that grips onto lipids present in the membrane of cancer cells and rips it open, causing the cell to expel its contents and explode. Steph and I decided that we would stick with our original idea, and start the podcast with plants from the rainforest and medicines that can be extracted from them and later go onto what has been recently found and further explain about the NaD1 molecule found in the tobacco plant.

Reference list

Macbeth. S (2014) Tobacco plant has key to fighting cancer. Retrieved from: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2014/release/tobacco-plant-has-key-to-fighting-cancer Accessed April 2014

Prigg. M (2013) Could tobacco hold the key to beating cancer? Retrieved from:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2597434/Could-tobacco-hold-key-beating-cancer-Researchers-say-plants-defence-mechanism-work-humans.html#ixzz31S5gtF5m Accessed April 2014