Drug Discovery

Graduate Fellow Emily Satkiewicz & Teacher Partner Jewyl Clarke

The Drug discovery process illuminated through the synthesis of wintergreen from aspirin

ABSTRACT

In this laboratory activity, students learn about the processes by which drugs are discovered and designed.  Students are first asked to think about where medicines come from, and are prompted to think about how medicines improve lives.  They next learn that the drug discovery process is lengthy, complex, and costly.  The students are then provided an opportunity to mimic the discovery process through performing a synthesis and subsequent analysis.  The students perform a synthesis of wintergreen oil from aspirin followed by a biological assay involving plating bacteria.  This assay is used to determine the new molecule’s effectiveness as an antibacterial.  Through analysis, students are able to validate that they successfully synthesized wintergreen oil from aspirin, and are able to compare physical qualities as well as antibacterial properties of the two.

GRADE LEVEL: 10-12

DURATION: 3 periods (50 minute periods)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Students will be able to use lab practices such as measuring, pouring, heating, pipeting.
• Students will be able to perform a synthesis reaction to change one molecule into something different.
• Students will be able to run biological and physical property tests to examine the antibiotic properties of the molecules used in the synthesis as well as the product.
• Students will show through discovery that a new molecule can be synthesized with very different interactions from the starting material.