Grade Grouping:	10 - 12
Team Size:	1
Subject Area:	Health
Project Type:	Experimental
Project Level:	Advanced
Project Format:	Traditional

Project Summary
          This project aimed to see whether inhibiting the COX-2 enzyme in cancer cells affected their viability. After inhibiting the COX-2 enzyme in breast cancer cells and normal breast cells using a COX-2 inhibitor called meloxicam, it was found that the human breast cancer cells were killed by meloxicam in a dose dependent manner. The normal breast cells were not affected.

Software Tools
1. EditPad Lite - All the HTML, Javascript and CSS code used to create this website was made using EditPad Lite 4.0 by JG Soft.
2. Adobe Photoshop - Images on this website were created using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.
3. Macromedia Flash - Flash movies on this website were created using Macromedia Flash 5.0.
4. WS_FTP Pro - The website and all its component files were uploaded to the alumni.ca server using WS_FTP Pro 8.0 from Ipswitch. 5. Microsoft Excel - Graphs were created using Microsoft Excel. 6. AxioVision - Pictures of cells were taken with the digital camera using AxioVision 4.0.

Hardware Tools
1. Digital Camera - Pictures of the cell lines required the use of a Zeiss digital camera that fitted onto a microscope.
2. Scanner - Pictures of the laboratory had to be scanned using an HP scanner prior to being available for viewing on the computer.

Source of the Idea for this Project
            I got the idea for this project after reading an article on research being performed on COX-2 in the Columbia Weill Cornell Cancer Center newsletter. The research that had been performed to date at the time had only looked at the effect of COX-2 inhibition in mice, which is what drove me to perform experiments of this nature on human cancer cell lines.

Special Skills

• Javascript
• Cascading Style Sheets
• Flash

Awards Won By This Project

• Gold Medal, Calgary Youth Science Fair
• B.P. Canada Award OF Excellence
• Alberta Heritage Youth Foundation Award of Excellence
• Representation for Calgary at CWSF 2004 in May

This project was created for Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair 2004.