• Question: How did you discover each of them?

    Asked by TheQuestionableChemist571 to Eleni, Hannah, Jenny, Oli, Steven on 15 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by Lewis -T-.
    • Photo: Eleni Vikeli

      Eleni Vikeli answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      Hello,

      Which them are you referring to?
      Please complete your question so we can answer accordingly!

      Eleni

    • Photo: Hannah Bolt

      Hannah Bolt answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      Hi Questionable Chemist,

      If you mean how did I discover my drugs, here is an answer:

      All the drug molecules I make are inspired by nature. For thousands of years animals, plants and bacteria have made a group of chemicals called ‘antimicrobial peptides’. These molecules are made by the organisms to help keep them safe from infections (for example, tree frogs in the rainforest make these peptides to reduce bacterial infections). My drugs are very similar structures to these natural peptides but I make certain changes to the molecules to give them better properties for use as a drug.

      I hope that answers your question? If not please feel free to ask again 🙂

      Hannah

    • Photo: Steven Street

      Steven Street answered on 19 Nov 2016:

      Hi Thequestionablechemist,

      I discovered all of my new drugs by assembling them from other molecules. This is called chemical synthesis! It can take a very long time to find a series of reactions that work well enough to allow you to make your target drug. For me, it took 1 year to develop the reactions to make the drugs, and about 2 weeks to produce them afterwards!

      Steve

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