Melissa enjoys drawing and painting because "it is limitless." She hopes to become a chemist in the cosmetics industry or a medical researcher.
Last year, Melissa studied the paperbark tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) in her backyard that has no vegetation growing around or underneath it. She explored its allelopathic properties in halting grass and weed growth. From this experience, she began this year's project to determine whether the leaves of the paperbark tree would kill bacteria.
Melissa collected paperbark leaves and made an extract. She then prepared E. coli and S. epidermidis cultures and tested her extract against positive (antibiotics) and negative (ethanol) controls. She found that the plant does have slight bactericidal properties. She is interested in continuing her research into the chemical and pharmacological properties of Melaleuca quinquenervia to determine whether there are possible applications to cancer research.
