THE INVITATION OF BELS BIOLOGY PROJEJT TO THE
45 th TUBİTAK ERZURUM REGIONAL EXHIBITION
As Biology Department, we feel right proud of the
success of our student, Gizem Sena Dündar in TÜBİTAK
Project Contest-2015. Our Biology project was chosen
to 46 th Secondary School Research Project Exhibition
held by TÜBİTAK BİDEB in Erzurum. We congratulate
our student, our teacher Öykü Dulun and wish a
continued success.
The comparison of the tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)
oil, jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) oil, and ginger
(Zingiber officinale) extractions to the commercial
surface cleaners used in mall in Erzurum, in terms of
efficiency on the inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus
found on hand-touching surfaces in mall in Erzurum
by Gizem Sena Dündar from 12-C
Natural products are gaining popularity among
public for their potential benefits in the fight against
microbial world. Although it is acceptable to exploit
such benefits, one must be aware of the exaggeration
around them. Natural products such as tea tree
oil (Melaleuca alternifolia), jojoba oil (Simmondsia
chinensis), and ginger (Zingiber officinale) extracts
are becoming “trendy” in public for their use as
substitutes for antibiotics and surface cleaners. In
this study my aim was to determine whether these
chemicals could be as effective as standard antibiotics
and commercial surface cleaners on the inhibition of
most commonly found bacterial species found in one
and only mall in Erzurum. After sample collection in
the mall; Staphylococcus spp., Pseudomonas spp.,
Acinetobacter spp., and Escherichia coli grew in the
specimens. Staphylococcus aureus is selected for
further study. I choose 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%
ginger extract concentrations in ethanol, 100% tee
tree oil, and 100% jojoba oil to compare with standard
antibiotic netilmicin and commercial surface cleaners
separately. Kirby-Bauer testing was used to determine
the effectiveness of inhibitory properties of chemicals
tested. ANOVA tests in SPSS v20.0.0 were used to analyze
data. Among natural products tested, most effective
one was tea tree oil but it was not significantly better
than 30%, 25%, and 15% ginger extract concentrations.
However tea trees oil and all other natural substances
in the experiment was inferior to both netilmicin and
commercial surface cleaner. Finally it is deducted that
despite their recent popularity many natural products
lack effectiveness of both antibiotics and commercially
available surface cleaners; and cannot be used as
substitutes for them.
THE CLAPPER 2014 - 2015 71
BIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT