Guidelines for presentation of literature at research ...



CHM562 Spring 2011 Guidelines for class presentation #1

Presentation #1: Topics related to natural products from the acetate and shikimate pathway

Tentative dates: during week of Feb 23rd to March 2nd

Plan on a 15 minute Powerpoint presentation.

Choose a topic from a list provided, or pick a topic (for example pharmacologically important compounds or classes of compounds, plants, herbal medicines, functional foods or new methodologies in isolation, structure elucidation or bioassay.) Some basic information on your topic may be found in the textbook, however you need to use at least 3 other sources from the scientific literature (such as review articles), books or websites to give enough depth to your presentation. At least one of these sources should be a recent journal article. Wikipedia is fine as a starting point but it is only just that! Searches may be done using Scifinder Scholar or Pubmed, or consult with science librarian Liz Winiarz.

What to present:

• Background information about the plant, botanical, compound or class of compounds you are presenting, natural sources, any interesting history associated with it

• Molecular structure(s) of compounds

• Building blocks & biosynthetic pathways used in formation

• Role(s) of these compounds within the plant or animal source

• Known medicinal uses and pharmacological effects in humans

• Recent studies on this topic (past 5-10 years)

• References

How to present:

Prepare a Powerpoint summary of your research (see below) and make copies as handouts for the class (include references).

Some suggested topics for presentation #1 (in case you don’t have a topic in mind)

Echinacea

Hypericin/St. John’s Wort

Macrolide / polyketide antibiotics

Aflatoxin

Marine toxins

Natural COX-2 Inhibitors

Omega-3 fatty acids

Lignans

Soy Isoflavonoids

Grape Seed Extract

CHM562 Class Presentation Grading Rubric Name:

Grading is on a 25 point scale corresponding to the assigned letter grade.

Topic: Grade:

Elements of presentation #1:

Background (information on source plant/organism, etc.)

Structures & biosynthetic information:

Known medicinal uses, if any

Pharmacological effects in humans

Info from recent studies:

References

Clearness of presentation

Use of appropriate visuals

Total score:

CHM562 Fall 2011 Guidelines for class presentation #2 and course project

Topics are due April 11th.

Presentations begin on April 25th (lottery system!)

Due date for review article is Friday May 6th.

The course project assignment is to write a literature-style review article on a topic of your choice relating to natural products research. The only limitation is that it should be on a different topic from your first class presentation. The review article should be a summary of findings published in eight or more recent primary research articles relating to your topic. “Recent” preferably means 2000-2011, although older papers will be allowed as long as no real literature reviews on the chosen topic have been published since that time.

Your second class presentation will be on one of the primary research articles (experimental research) chosen for inclusion in your review article.

Topics may include (but are not limited to)

-- a specific compound or class of compounds (ginkgolides, for example)

-- a specific plant, organism or food source (anything but cranberries & grapes, we will cover these pretty thoroughly)

-- various plants/compounds having one particular type of biological activity (e.g. anti-fungals, inhibitors of apoptosis, anti-diabetic, psychoactive etc.)

When you have a topic in mind, you should OK it with me; if there are recent reviews already published you may be asked to change or modify the topic. If you need help finding a topic, I will assign you one, but it’s always better if it’s something you’re interested in.

Literature search engines often turn up articles in journals that the UMD library does not get (for example, we do NOT get many medical or pharmacological journals; so many articles pertaining to natural products have to be ordered!) Some may be downloadable through Science Direct or Pubmed, but some articles may have to be ordered through Interlibrary Loan. This can take a week or two during the “busy season”, so pick your topic and start searching for articles ASAP. You can use internet for searching and websites for background information, but info from websites is not a substitute for real research articles. For those journals that are available in the library and can be photocopied, I will make arrangements with the library to allow students from this class to take journals out and back to the Chemistry Office for photocopying (bring your ID when you go).

The review article itself should be written in the style of reviews from Planta Medica or Phytochemistry. I will give you some sample review articles for format. Your paper should start with a discussion of background information; and then discuss the specific work that was done, describing the nature of the methods the researchers used and their findings. Include structures. A discussion of any important findings should follow, as well as a complete reference section in proper format. There is no specific length requirement. The articles you use should be handed in with your paper. You will be graded on the depth of your analysis as well as organization, readability and use of appropriate cited literature.

Presentation #2: Recently published research in natural products

Timeframe: April 25 - May 2

Plan on a 15 minute presentation and discussion

Objective: The point of this assignment is to learn about current developments and methodology in the field of natural products and to begin thinking about critical assessment of scientific research.

1) Selection of a paper:

You may choose a research paper related to any aspect of natural products or food chemistry; preferably the topic of your review article. The paper should be an article describing specific experimentation by the authors themselves and the results obtained from their work, not a review article. However, you may consult other articles for further information on the topic. If you have a specific topic in mind, search for recent articles on this topic. Otherwise, the best places to begin looking for an article might be Journal of Natural Products or Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Both of these journals are available in the Neto research lab, II-301 (you are welcome to look for an article and take it to the office for photocopying but please do not remove journals overnight.) Other good journals available in the library or through ILL include Planta Medica, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, Food Chemistry, Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.

Important note:

Choose an article that you at least get the main point of, even if you don’t understand everything. Stay away from topics that are totally unfamiliar (like molecular biology unless you have some background in it and are prepared to explain techniques!)

2) How to present:

Make copies for the group of the entire article or just parts of the article if it’s long (use your judgement).

Prepare a Powerpoint summary. Tables of data and diagrams from the paper can be included in the Powerpoint if it makes the presenting easier.

3) What to present:

Summarize:

a) What plant or substance is being studied and what institute the researchers are from

b) The main objective of the work presented

c) The major method or methods used to get the data (if you don’t know anything about these methods, do some background research)

d) The main conclusions drawn from the study.

Discuss:

Go over some background information from the introduction (consult other papers cited in the references if you need clarification of why they’re doing this), describe the methods used (if it’s an unfamiliar method such as a bioassay, give us as much detail on the procedures as possible), present the data and any conclusions that can be drawn from it and any important points that they make in their discussion. Summarize. Do NOT read the paper out loud word for word. If you don’t understand why the researchers used a certain approach to solve the problem, bring it up for discussion. If you think any of their reasoning is faulty, discuss why!

CHM562 Name:

Grading guidelines for presentation #2 Grade:

Organization & presentation style:

Content:

Background information

Objectives of research

Description & understanding of methods used

Summary of results

Conclusions from study

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download