Using Viruses to Kill Cancer

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards:
First Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Cancer Assistance Program Award
Ontario Association of Medical Laboratory Award
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair
Description:This experimentation investigated the role of a double-mutant Herpes Simplex Virus, HSV-1 called KM110r, to determine if it is a safe and effective oncolytic virus therapy. Thorough in vitro proliferation assay and morphological analyses proved that KM110r can successfully destroy all cancerous cells under physiological conditions and completely ignore all non-cancerous cells despite induced genetic differentiation. During the course of experimentation, 80,000 cancerous cells were killed while none of the non-cancerous cells were harmed: a therapeutic index of 80,000:0.
Links: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2005/raso5n0/public_html