Biology Alumni and Faculty Publish Research in Molecules Journal

Four Monmouth alumni and two faculty members recently published the article, "Manuka Essential Oil Triggers Apoptosis and Activation of c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase in Fibroblasts and Fibrosarcoma Cells" in MDPI's Molecules Journal (Vol. 29, Issue 21, Oct. 2024).

The four student authors, all recent graduates of the Biology-Molecular Cell Physiology program, include Noa Bass '24, Mruga Parekh '21, Subah Soni '21, and Jive Jacob '20. The research was under the direction of Dottie Lobo, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biology, in collaboration with James Mack, Ed.D., professor of biology, and with assistance from Prabodh Satyal, Ph.D., from the Aromatic Pant Research Center in Utah. The goal of this project was to treat cancer cell lines with manuka essential oil at different concentrations and to ascertain the effects on the cell proliferation of normal fibroblast (CUA-4) and on fibrosarcoma (HT-1080) cells.

This is a second publication from Monmouth for Subah, Mruga, and Jive, who previously were authors on a paper about the effects of kumquat essential oil on stress signaling which was published in "Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry" in 2022. Additionally, Noa and Mruga worked on the paper as students of the Honors School. Noa is currently working as a technician at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University; Parekh is in dental school at Rutgers; Soni is in a Ph.D. program at UC-Davis; and Jacob is pursing medical school.

Four additional students were acknowledged for technical assistance in maintaining and treating cells: Nick Tamburro, Michael Catalfumo, Dianelys Garcia, and Angelo Prado. The project was conceived by Mack, who was studying the effects of oils on bacterial growth and sought to determine if cancer cells would also be susceptible to the effects. The project was supported in the summer by the School of Science Summer Research Program and by Kevin Young '89, who provided support to obtain the essential oils.

Noa Bass '24 presents data related to effects of mankuna essential oil

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