Week 1 HW: Final Project Ideas

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bYcl7GqcwBosofRkfOj3yAfC6PKXy3e0/view?usp=drive_link

My concept for a project is simple: a universal cure for bacterial infections. I’ve set out to achieve this via a combination of two molecules, Alpha-Methylglucoside (A-MG) and Egg White Lysozyme (EWL). The A-MG is present to slow/halt bacterial replication. [1] EWL is an enzyme that kills bacteria. This one-two punch system uses two molecules that are very difficult to evolve resistance to. A-MG is a non-metabolizable glucose analog, and EWL induces lysis. 
Now, let’s talk about economics. Naturally, I don’t know the exact dosage quantities of costs involved, so I will have to make some estimations. Firstly, I will be assuming that the dose size is equal to that of nafcillin. This isn’t ideal (and is certainly not correct [hopefully a highball estimate]), but it will suffice for now. This quantity is 500 mg every 4-6 hours (2,400 mg per day). The cost of retrieving recombinant EipB from liquid-cultured E. coli was 52.5$/g. [4] This means that a single adult daily dosage costs roughly 126$. 
Of course, a liquid-culturing robot could be used to improve the efficiency of the system.

  Citations:

  1. Miyahara Y, Signorino-Gelo F, Lonchampt NEM, Murima P, McKinney JD, Dhar N. Survival of ampicillin-treated uropathogenic Escherichia coli is independent of single-cell growth rates. NPJ Antimicrob Resist. 2026 Feb 2;4(1):7. doi: 10.1038/s44259-025-00180-6. PMID: 41629675; PMCID: PMC12864937.
  2. Liu F, Wang X, Huang L, Wang X, Kong L, Duan J, Zhang X, Mu H, He J. The In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities of Lysozyme against Gram-Positive Bacteria. Comput Math Methods Med. 2022 Aug 10;2022:4559982. doi: 10.1155/2022/4559982. Retraction in: Comput Math Methods Med. 2023 Jul 19;2023:9821398. doi: 10.1155/2023/9821398. PMID: 35991138; PMCID: PMC9385363.
  3. Nafcillin Dosage, https://www.drugs.com/dosage/nafcillin.html version (09/02/2026), (Accessed 9/22/2026)
  4. Akmayan I, Ozturk AB, Ozbek T. Recombinant proteins production in Escherichia coli BL21 for vaccine applications: a cost estimation of potential industrial-scale production scenarios. Prep Biochem Biotechnol. 2024 Aug;54(7):932-945. doi: 10.1080/10826068.2023.2299495. Epub 2024 Jan 10. PMID: 38198230.