Mission College student Jennifer Voong was awarded best eposter at the annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. She won in the category for community college students in Physiology and Pharmacology. Her STEM poster was on the use of deer antler supplements to reduce inflammation in osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis worldwide affecting millions of people.
Osteoarthritis is a joint disease in which joint mobility is an issue. Joint pain is a symptom.
Using different levels of a deer antler supplement, Voong noted in her poster that, deer antler may exert its anti-inflammatory properties by reducing prostaglandin E2 levels, a known substance to cause inflammation.
Voong used cartilage from joints in cattle (called explants) and studied them outside the body and fed the tissue with liquid nutrients to keep it alive.
Voong concluded, "To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effects of deer antler on inflammatory mediators using bovine cartilage explant culture." Her results suggest deer antler supplements, in as little as three days, can reduce inflammation.
The research was part of the summer research internship at Mission College with the HSI-STEM program and biology instructor Dr. See Chan. A literature review was conducted in June and lab research at Mission College happened in July and August under Chan's supervision. All COVID safety protocols were in place.