Jennifer Han

Annotated Bibliography
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.umbc.edu/aok/main/index.php>.
This online database is from University of Maryland: Baltimore County. Students can
easily access the sources from online database, rather than having to physically look for at the
library. College database contains different search tools, depending on the types of journals they
are looking for. Students can click on different tabs to choose type of sources they want, and
search for the book. It is connected to many different types of encyclopedia, professional journal
entries, online newspaper articles, etc. Some of the materials are only available at the UMBC
library, and by opening the database to other people, it helps people in finding detailed sources.
I like how the college database is open for everyone to use, even though there might be
parts where only UMBC students can access into. This site helped me search up and find many
professional journals and encyclopedias. The PDF files are available for students to download
and read, so a person does not have to carry a physical book. The database contains sources of
variety of topics; there are especially a lot of medical related sources available to preview. Not
only this has journals, but it also contains media (arts and music). I really like the fact that a
student can search up the sources online, request it, and go pick it up when she is available.
American Society of Microbiology. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. <http://aac.asm.org/>.
This is a website open for everyone who is interested in science. The website is simple; it
has menus that take people to certain resources, such as children's books, professional journals,
and latest news articles. Most of the journals are very recent. They have a page with just different
types of periodicals. Some of the journals are accessible for anyone, but some are only open to
certain members of the site.
It is a very useful site with lots of sources; most of my sources came from this website. It
contains a whole periodicals, so if a person needs a whole book, she can look from here and read
articles in it. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy is also from this website. I like how they
have entire issues available, and you can pick one from that. The most recent ones are also
available, so this site has every sources reliable and up to date.

Asvadi, Naghme Hajerol, et al. "Evaluation of Microporous Polycaprolactone Matrices for

Controlled Delivery of Antiviral Microbicides to the Female Genital Tract." Journal of
Materials Science: Materials in Medicine (2013): 2719-26. Print.
This source is very specific in talking about a particular drug release in polycaprolactone
(PCL) material. The researchers incorporated Acyclovir (ACV), a frequently used drug in herpes
experiments, in a controlled-release PCL matrices designed for use as intra-vaginal ring inserts.
The researchers explain their steps in detail on how they experimented to test the drug release in
PCL material. This article contains an abstract, methods, experiment, results and analysis, and
conclusion part, just like any other science lab report. They explain in detail how they prepared
the material in a simulated vaginal fluid to imitate the real environment they would be put into, if
they are tested to be effective. This research shows how much PCL is able to release ACV over
certain amount of time, and this is very significant in making vaginal rings for female in order to
see if the material is able to release drug properly in right amount. The amount of release has to
match up with the amount ACV has to be released in order to work against Herpes Simplex
Virus type 2, which can be helpful in the prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
This report is very detailed in the steps of experimental process, that other researchers
can replicate the lab easily in order to testify the experiment results. This particular source was
given to me by my mentor, so it is very specific to what I am working on at the lab. This gives
me an insight to what the data might look like, since I am working on a similar experiment but
with different matrices. The process of the lab is described in detail, which can help me set up
my lab if I ever forget how to make a vaginal ring for experiment. The data of ACV-release
gives me an idea of how I should work on my lab with my partners, by replicating but modifying
certain areas in order to get a better result.
Baum, Marc M. et al. "An Intravaginal Ring for the Simultaneous Delivery of Multiple Drugs."
Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 101.8 (2012): 2833-43. Print.
On previous journal article, the researchers concluded that delivering drugs with a
silicone implant is the most effective way without having any difficulties with adherence or preexposure to environment. Now, they are testing the rings with different types of drugs in order to
verify the effectiveness of the rings. They used two different types of drugs, Acyclovir (ACV)
and Tenofovir (TFV). They induce certain amount of drug into the silicone ring, then they were
tested in vitro. They found out the delivery was effective, and once again, the drugs did not get
altered from the environment because they were protected in a pod inside silicone walls.
By reading this, it increased reliance of the silicone ring methods. Also, they used the
same drug that we are using at the lab, and the results were successful. I also learned that we
could possibly work on making a pod also, instead of simply adding ACV in the ring. According
to this article, the environment can take away some of the drugs, since they are hydrophilic.
Making the pod helps keeping the drug, since it is rounded into a ball shape, and it is secured
inside a silicone wall. The photograph also helped; if there was not any diagrams of the actual
ring, I would have been confused about the pod-model structures.

Baum, Marc M. et al. "An Intravaginal Ring for the Sustained Delivery of Tenofovir Disoproxil
Fumarate." International Journal of Pharmaceutics 495 (2015): 579-87. Print.
This article talks about an intravaginal rings specifically and how it delivers tenofovir
disoproxil fumarate (TDF). TDF helps prevent and slow down HIV, but the drug's efficacy has
been not constant throughout. The reason was having a poor adherence of the drug. Then, the
researchers found out a way to possibly enhance the release of the drug by using a silicone
intravaginal rings. By making a ring, they do not have to worry about adherence issues, since it
gives sustained-release of the drug directly inside a woman's body. They did their experiment in
vitro, and the result was good enough. The efficacy became more constant than before, and this
is also the way to make medication less expensive and more effective.
This does not relate to HSV, but the method they used is exactly the same as what we are
working on now. Instead of adding the drug into the silicone and mixing them together, they
chose to made pods of drug implanted inside a silicone ring. Their experiment in vitro was also
interesting. In vitro is when the experiment is done inside a glass, meaning an experiment on the
cell. We also have done in vitro experiments with our drug rings, and it is certainly a way to
obtain good data. By reading so many articles relating to vaginal rings, I found out that many
researchers are using drug pods instead of just incorporating the drug into silicone itself. This
helped me gain confidence in our research, since this experiment also proved that silicone is a
way to go in order to release drug more effectively.
Berkower, Carol L. et al. "Silicone-Acyclovir Controlled Release Devices Suppress Primary
Herpes Simplex Virus-2 and Varicella Zoster Virus Infections in Vitro." Advances in
Pharmacological Sciences (2013): 1-10. Print.
This article specifically explains how silicone-acyclovir implants are very helpful in
suppressing herpes simplex virus type 2 and Varicella Zoster Virus. They made siliconeacyclovir rings and submerged them into cell flasks with mediums in it. They let it stay for
certain period, and eventually recorded the data of existing virus before and after the experiment.
Surprisingly, the silicone implant worked effectively to get rid of viruses existing in cells. The
control-and-release system of the drugs is also very effective, since silicone implant is designed
to have slower release rate on constant dosages.
This article is very helpful because it correlates a lot with the model we are currently
working on. This previous work shows how silicone-acyclovir has been very effective in herpes
simplex virus type 2. I am at a stage where all the rings need to be sterilized, and we will begin
testing on their efficacy and drug release rate. Also, we will be able to see if the sterilization
method we picked is the right one. This article explains the steps of making the rings, and that is
the way we are currently producing our drug implants. So, if the release rate matches with this
article, then we can assume this will also be effective in suppression of the virus.

Brewer, Tony. "Herpes." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000): 399. Print.
This source focuses on the topic herpes in general, since the article came from the
encyclopedia that does not specifically talk about the medicine and disease in particular. It
focuses on the two main types of herpes, type 1 and type 2. After a simple explanation, the
article goes on to talk about different symptoms that each type can show on human. Some of the
causes of the outbreak of virus is also explained in brief sentences.
Since this is from an encyclopedia talking about popular culture, it does not focus in
depth on the virus, unlike a health journal. This might be helpful in finding out the general idea
about herpes, but I already know about these information given in the database. Therefore, this
source is not helpful in trying to learn more about herpes and different drugs that can help reduce
or prevent the disease.
De Clercq, Erik. "The Hol Trinity: The Acyclic Nucleoside Phosphonates." Advances in
Pharmacology (2013): 294-312. Print.
Advances in Pharmacology is a scientific journal that is frequently used in universities.
The series contains researches, but they are organized into chapters and sub-topics per research.
The one I am focusing on is chapter 8 of the journal, which explains thoroughly about the
Acyclic Nucleoside Phosphonates. It is a class of antiviral agents that the author found with his
co-workers. The discovery of this agent led to a whole new field for medical specialists to work
in. Now, its family agents and drugs are widely used to treat DNA virus infections, hepatitis, and
AIDS.
This chapter does not directly help me with the project, but it broadens my view of how
widely Acyclovir families are used in medical area. Also, this antiviral agents are taking part in
curing of such serious infections such as AIDS and DNA viruses. The chapter is organized into
sub-units and contains large graphics for beginners to read and understand. Also, they do a good
job explaining some of the abbreviations used in the book. I learned more about the background
of the drug I am currently using at the lab. I did not know how they were discovered or made, but
by reading this article I learned more about the molecular structures of ACV, what it is made out
of, and how it works to treat severe infections.

DoctorsLounge. Web. 24 Oct. 2015. <http://www.doctorslounge.com/>.

This is an online forum for patients who need medical helps. This forum also contains
different tabs in their menu, such as journals, conferences, articles, etc. Not only can patients
contact any medical specialists, but anyone can access the web site for free to search different
journals and articles. It contains more than 1,000 professional journals and articles, along with
recent health news headlines. The web site updates daily with new articles and journals available
for doctors and patients to use. The site also has the opinion page, where doctors post questions
or opinionated topics and discuss with each other about possible answers.
The web site contains many different articles and journals related to health. This was very
useful in looking for journals to read and write about. Also, the opinion page can be used to read
what doctors have been searching answers for, how they think certain ways about a topic, and
debate to find an answer. This can be helpful in people possibly looking for future research
topics, or anyone can get inspired from the talks they have and learn from that. I like how the
web site is kept in date. Some forums do not update frequently, but this web site updates daily
with the most recent news articles. I think this will be a lot of help in the future also.
Futurity. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. < http://www.futurity.org/>.
This is a famous source for looking at research news from top universities. It is divided
into four different basic categories: health, environment, culture, and sci-tech. The database is
mostly about science related topics from universities. The site itself is organized in a way to
capture the visitors eyes, with colorful main page and interesting "top-story". The main page is
also divided into four topics, so people can easily scroll to look for topics of interest. One can
also search researches based on the schools by clicking on the name of specific university. The
topics and articles also include high-quality photos and videos, so a person does not have to read
a long paper.
Futurity is a widely-used online database that provides students with reliable sources. The
site updates frequently with different research topics from top universities in the United States.
These are not the ordinary boring sources but are actually very interesting to read about. The
titles are also very funny. I like how they have the four major topics divided into different
sections, and I also like how you can choose a specific school to look at their projects. Seeing
researches going on in other schools help me inspire possible research ideas and learn about
other researchers' methods and approach into performing their experiment.

Google Scholars. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. <http://www.scholar.google.com/>.

Google Scholars is a website that guides students to reliable sources, such as professional
articles and journals. Anyone can use Google Scholars to research about certain topics and
collect sources from the site. Students can sort the results by date or reliance, and they can pick a
certain time frame, so they do not have to worry about finding sources from 20 years ago. It also
includes any citations or patents, has a preview of the journal, and shows if it can be
downloadable or not.
This site is very helpful for people who are just searching for possible sources to read
relating to their topics. There are thousands of sources per any topic you enter, and they are
mostly all reliable. I could type in the topic of my research and read any journals, and it would
help me in some way to enhance my knowledge or to inspire me with new ideas. I really like
how it can be sorted by dates or by most reliance because sometimes it can be considered
unreliable if the journal is too outdated.
Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=elli29753&authCount=1>.
Gale Virtual Reference Library is an online database filled with different types of
subjects from fine arts to science. Students with access can easily click on any encyclopedia and
search up their topics. For each subject, there are 6 or 7 different encyclopedia specific to it. This
site also provides citations for each references. The chapters and topics are organized neatly, so it
is easy for students to find their topic of interest.
I could only find 6 encyclopedias on medicine, and not enough details for their
explanations of herpes virus. Since it is not an encyclopedia just on herpes, I understand the
information is vague. However, Gale does not really help me with finding any good sources
because my research topic is already narrow, and something general like this is not useful. Also,
most of the encyclopedias are outdated by few years.

Hodge, R. Anthony Vere, and Hugh J. Field. "Antiviral Agents for Herpes Simplex Virus."
Advances in Pharmacology 67 (2013): 1-38. Print.
Herpes is a dangerous virus that can be spread through different types of human
interactions. The virus, once becoming active in one's body, causes painful irritations around
mouth or genital areas. This source is one of the chapters included in a professional journal titled
Advances in Pharmacology. This particular chapter is an introduction to the virus called herpes;
it briefly describes the two main types of herpes virus, Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and
type 2 (HSV-2). It also explain what types of clinical diseases they can cause, going in depth
about how we need antiviral chemotherapy. After a brief description on herpes virus, it goes off
on talking about the different types of drugs, focusing especially on acyclovir (ACV) which led
to multiple prodrugs, valacylocir, penciclovir, and famciclovir (FCV). They have been the main
drugs used of HSV therapy, and they were proved to be remarkably safe. This article discusses
important differences between those compounds, their clinical trial data, and clinical experience.
Later, it shifts focus and discuss about other possible compounds researchers can use to possibly
deal with HSV. Overall, the article focuses on general information on herpes virus, some of the
compounds used in clinics, and other possible compounds in dealing with HSV.
This source is written in basic language for students, who rarely have much knowledge
on herpes virus, so it is very easy for me to understand what they are discussing. The article
starts off by giving a brief introduction on the virus, different types of virus, and diseases they
cause on human. This allows the students to gain at least a small prior knowledge on what they
will going to read about. Also, it includes a list of important abbreviations, such as ACV, HSV,
and PVC, which are frequently used in the journal. The article is divided into subsections with
detailed subtitles to give hints on what each section is going to focus on talking about. The article
also provides with different diagrams, such as graphs, to help students' understanding on the
information presented in the article. I think it will be a very helpful source since it does not focus
deeply on the subject, but it does a great job introducing the general ideas of the herpes virus. It
is really simply-written, at least for me to understand easily about the topic.

Keller, J. A. "Safety and Pharmacokinetics of Aciclovir in Women following Release from a

Silicone Elastomer Vaginal Ring." Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 67 (2012):
2005-12. Print.
This article mainly focuses on the process of making an acyclovir-implanted silicone
ring. It includes graphs and data charts to show the process of the experiment, and how the
results were turned out. The main reason recent researchers use acyclovir is that acyclovir is 100fold more potent than tenofovir in vitro, suggesting that a vaginal formulation of acyclovir could
provide greater protection against HSV. By able to perform the experiment well, able to replicate
the data, and obtain an acceptable result can help out with cure against HSV. Potential
advantages of sustained acyclovir ring delivery to the genital tract include a decrease in systemic
toxicity and improved adherence. The article is formatted like a lab report, explaining in detail of
how each step contributes to the whole process of the rate of drug release from silicone.
This article is well-organized, visually appealing for readers, and contains information
that we are looking for at the lab. Considering how using silicone to make vaginal ring came out
from us, we are experimenting different techniques to extrude, sterilize, and test drug release of
the silicone rings. The methods and ingredients they use sound very interesting, and it can help
us try something new to see the result it brings. The author of this article uses liquid silicone, mix
with ACV, and simply make specific size of noodle. This article is very in depth as far as details,
so I think it would give us a pretty thorough insight on using liquid silicone and testing for drug
release from that.
Lindquester, Gary J., et al. "Epstein-Barr Virus IL-10 Gene Expression by a Recombinant
Murine Gammaherpesvirus in Vivo Enhances Acute Pathogenicity but Does Not Affect
Latency or Reactivation." Herpesviridae 5 (2014): Print.
There are many different types of herpes virus in the world. Each type of animals have
their own version of herpes virus. This article focuses on a murine gammaherpesvirus (MHV)
and interleukin 10 (IL-10). IL-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine in human body. The
researchers went on to experiment the effect of MHV on IL-10. The experiment was performed
with in vivo, live animal test, in order to watch the role of IL-10 in MHV infection. IL-10 genes
and MHV were mixed together, then it was put into different mice. The actual virus has many
side-effects including lung virus titer, change in spleen cell number, and more. The researchers
calculated the percentage of latently infected cells and MHV genes' reactivation. They found out
that IL-10 genes help speed up and enhance pathogenicity, ability to cause diseases, of MHV.
However, the latency and reactivation of the actual virus were not affected. This proved that IL10 only increases the severity of MHV but not its latency or reactivation.
This journal itself is all about herpes, so it can be very helpful for looking through past
projects and maybe improve on them. This type of virus does not relate to what I've been
working with, but this shows different types of herpes virus that I should be aware of. It was
interesting how a particular gene can combine with the virus to actually enhance the
pathogenicity, but it does not affect any other latent virus or alter their functions. Also, the
research was published fairly recent, so it is reliable.

MackinVia. Web. 24 Oct. 2015. < https://www.hcpss.mackinvia.com/>.

This is a database-collection website. This site contains different databases available for
only students with permissions from their schools. MackinVia contains many types of databases;
some web sites are very general in their focus, some are very detailed with what they collect. The
access to MackinVia automatically gives student the access to connected databases from the site.
This website is only available to students whose schools have access to it. Also, most of
the database it contains are very old and outdated. However, it still helps me find more recent
sources or useful websites such as Howard County Library Branch. It is also helpful in a way one
only needs an access to MackinVia in order to visit other database pages.
Margulies, Barry. Personal interview. 21 Oct. 2015.
Dr. Barry Margulies is currently an associate professor in Molecular Virology at Towson
University. He started working with herpes virus during his days at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). After working with finding ways to input drugs in human body, he found out
using silicone vaginal rings to release drug is actually very effective. He tested the implants in
different environments representing women's vaginal fluid. After he graduated from MIT, he
continued his study in medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He stayed at
Johns Hopkins for six years to study and five years to complete his postdoctoral fellowship. He
started working for Towson University after his graduation and continued researching about
herpes virus and silicone-Acyclovir rings. He is most interested in organic chemistry,
pharmacology, and virology. He has been teaching at Towson for 14 years now, and he is happy
to have his students help his project.
Markides, Kyriakos S. Encyclopedia of Health & Aging. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2007. Print.
It is an encyclopedia that includes every topic related to healthcare and beauty (especially
aging process). The encyclopedia contains 289 different topics relating to health. Each topic
consists of brief definitions, different types of certain disorders, the aging processes, and more.
The encyclopedia also offers online access, so people can look through the book online. The
topics range from aging to schizophrenia, simple exercises to HIV and AIDS. Every topic is all
included in this book, even if the topic does not have much connection with health or aging
process. Like all the other encyclopedia, each section is organized alphabetically.
Since it is an encyclopedia, it is useful in a way that I can look up anything that is health
related. However, there is no specific entry for herpes virus. Also, the topics in encyclopedias
tend to be very vague and simple, so it usually does not help much. Having an online version of
the book is very helpful, since a person does not have to physically check out the book and carry
around. She can pull it out whenever she wants with her phone. However, a person needs to
become a member of the publisher website in order to actually view the content. The
encyclopedia was published in 2007, so it is fairly new. One thing I found it odd was that the
book included random topics to include in an encyclopedia. Other than that, I think this source
would be helpful for me in the future when I have to look for brief meaning of health topics.

MaterFile Premier. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <https://www.ebscohost.com/academic/masterfilepremier>.

This database is accessed through MackinVia school account. Once you click on this site,
it takes you to EBSCOhost site. Pop-ups come out and ask to pick the right database with right
information that you are looking for. Once setting up the choices, then you can start searching up
periodical journals and articles. The site is very neatly organized, and once you enter a keyword
in, sources come up in order of most recent data it was published.
The use of the site was a little confusing to me because of all the pop-ups asking me to
check off some of the topics. Also, I did not know what to do when EBSCOhost search page
came up. However, I figured out what to click on, and typed in a keyword relating to my topic. I
was surprised to see all the PDF files available for me to open and download. Also, the articles
were not outdated, it was composed with journals that are most recently published. This source
helped me search most updated and reliable sources to read.
Moss, John A., et al. "Simultaneous Delivery of Tenofovir and Acyclovir via an Intravaginal
Ring." Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 59.11 (2015): 875-82. Print.
This article focuses more on the HIV side of the treatment. The drugs they are using in
their experiments are the same ones that are used to treat HSV. Like the title of the article, it
shares the data the authors obtained by using vaginal implants on live animals. The implants are
made to fit specific animals, and they are cured with Acyclovir (ACV) and Tenofovir (TFV).
Two specific animals they used in testing were rabbits and sheep. Their internal conditions were
all researched and recorded prior to the experiment, and researchers observed and recorded data
of daily drug release rate. They introduce a special method of releasing drug, and they figured
out that it has a potential to possibly help releasing drug at the right rate and help prevent HIV.
Even though this focuses on HIV prevention more than herpes virus, the article states that
they find HIV and HSV closely related, since HSV infections can lead to possible HIV
acquisition. Also, their use of making a ring-shaped implant is similar to what I have been
working on at the lab. Their introduction to the new method also catches eyes because it is
essentially like a round pod-shaped device, but it had good results on sheep and rabbits as drug
release rates wise. Since we are not using any animals as our test subject yet, and we will be
ending up using rats at the most, so seeing the results on other animals and their data is very
informational.

"National Institute of Health." National Institute of Health. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.

<http://www.nih.gov/>.
The general site of National Institute of Health (NIH) contains thousands of articles and
information on different types of health issues, diseases, symptoms, and more. It is divided into
six main sections, but most often used section is the "News & Events" section. A visitor of the
web site can simply click on the tab, and it will take her to many different types of news release.
The news is updated to most recent health-related articles. There is a search tool to easily
navigate and sort out the topic specific for individual. It also has image and video section, where
one can simply go in and observe visually of what he/she wishes to get information on.
NIH is a widely known health institute, and this is a very credible source for anyone to
use. This site will help me in terms of looking up basic health terms, different symptoms
associated with different types of herpes, and possibly news articles related to my topic. I believe
NIH has an encyclopedia linked to its web site, so anyone can look up anything they wish to
search about, limited mostly to health-related topics. I can also see what types of researches are
being done at NIH and other places. Unfortunately, there isn't much herpes-related news topics
recently, but I can certainly look through past news articles and see what the issue was back then
or what was accomplished until now.
NoodleTools. Web. 24 Oct. 2015. <http://www.noodletools.com>.
NoodleTools is a website that helps student format bibliographies in an easier way. It
offers MLA citations, and it provides possible categories for each source that students can pick.
Based on the category topic, it provides detailed descriptions explaining what each sources
represent and what can be considered as certain sources. NoodleTools also provides blanks or
templates for students to just simply fill in the necessary blanks in order to complete the
bibliography. There is always a box for annotations, if necessary.
NoodleTools helped me a lot with making annotated bibliographies. I have trouble
ordering the MLA format of bibliography, and always end up messing something up. But with
NoodleTools, I do not have to worry about formatting it wrong because it does organizing for
you. Without having to go through the process of organizing really saves time, and also
continuing to use NoodleTools can eventually help students be familiar with MLA citations and
end up formatting bibliographies themselves. Practicing to write annotations also help.

Piret, Jocelyne, and Guy Boivin. "Resistance of Herpes Simplex Viruses to Nucleoside
Analogues: Mechanisms, Prevalence, and Management." Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy (2011). Print.
This article focuses on the mechanisms to possibly treat Herpes Simplex Virus, the
prevalence of the infection by using possible antiviral drugs and methods, and the management
of the condition. The researchers focus on two types of drugs, Acyclovir and Tenofovir. They are
well-known drugs that treats herpes virus. The researchers focused on inducing drugs onto
different cells, recorded their reactivity and endurance to the drug, and observed cell's latency
and reactivation period. They concluded, to get rid of cell's growing immunity on certain drugs,
they must find a new medical drugs with different mechanisms of action.
I did not find this article helpful, but in general, it made me aware of the possible
immunity the cells might gain from the frequent use of certain drugs. Like Darwin's Theory of
Natural Selection, only the cells immune to drugs will survive and multiply, eventually leading
us to find new drugs with new mechanisms to treat herpes virus. This can be very helpful when
we are trying to find out how long or how much drugs it takes for the cells to start becoming
resistant to drugs, so we do not overdo it when we are experimenting with our drug rings. Also,
we can start finding new medical drugs in order to replace the previous ones.
Prichard, Mark N. "CMX001 Potentiates the Efficacy of Acyclovir in Herpes Simplex Virus
Infections." Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (2011). Print.
This article explains a new experiment that demonstrated a possible synergy effect of
using CMX001 and Acyclovir together. This article talks about the possible resistance of the
cells to certain drugs, and that can be problematic since if the elimination of the cells are not
completed, the surviving cells will multiply. The researchers then have to find another methods
to kill off the virus. By combining CMX001 and Acyclovir together, there has been data that
shows how they created synergetic effects and showed better efficacy of the drug. This can
possibly be used to get rid of ACV-resistant herpes virus.
This is a very helpful source in a way it lets us know how to possibly kill off almost
every virus possible. The biggest problem for all of pharmaceutical researchers is reducing the
amount of virus living in ones body. However, there is always one cell that is immune to a
certain type of drug, which then multiplies and creates a mess. Seeing how mixing two drugs can
cause synergetic effect help us to possibly consider about experimenting with the combined drug,
rather than ACV instead. This is also a good information, since if this can cure most of the virus,
we do not have to worry about making a supplement drugs to kill leftover viruses.

PubMed. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?tool=cdl&otool=cdlotool>.

PubMed is a frequently used online science database. Many medical professions use this
database to search for different references and professional journals. PubMed comprises more
than 25 million citations for biomedical literature, life science journals, and online books. All the
sources come from reliable journals and periodicals. The resources are divided into more detailed
categories of sciences. One can also connect with other reliable databases from PubMed site.
Instead of having to search for available full text, PubMed provides a page comprised with full
text articles only.
PubMed is very helpful in finding reliable sources; I used some of their journals and
articles in my sources. Also, this is the site where my mentor visits frequently if he is looking for
any articles. PubMed includes recent journals and have thousands of accessible sources for
anyone to use. I really like how the menus are set up so people can easily access what they want.
They also have mobile app, so it can be easily visited on mobile, not just on PC.
Samra, Jaspreet. Personal interview. 21 Oct. 2015.
Jaspreet Samra is currently a senior at Towson University. She attended this university
for four years now, and is waiting for her graduation day. She majors in Biology, more
specifically in cell and molecular biology. She has been working at Dr. Margulies's lab for about
8 months now, and the reason she chose to work at Herpes Virus Lab was because she was
interested in learning more about herpes virus. Also, when she was shadowing one of the lab
members, she got to see the projects they have been working on and was drawn to all of them.
That is when she wanted to become a part of the TUHVL family and work in such a warm,
family-like environment. Her future plan is to go to graduate school and hopefully find a job that
she loves.
Science Reference Center. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. < https://www.ebscohost.com/us-highschools/science-reference-center>.
This online database is part of EBSCOhost family. The site is very well-organized with
visuals to represent each subject. The database only contains science-related topics, and one can
choose a specific category for one's interest. Each category is divided into five or six more
subunits one can pick, and those subunits are also divided into 20 different subtopics. The site
narrows the topic down into a very specific category in order to provide the most accurate
sources for one's research. There are tools to help with sorting out dates, files, and availability of
full texts.
This site does a great job narrowing down the topic. However, most of the sources are at
least 5 years old. If there were more recent sources to use, then this database would be the best
for finding scientific journal sources. I like how this database is focused on science only, so I do
not have to worry about not finding anything relating to my topic. I found some useful articles
from this database, and I think narrow topics really help sort out the necessary resources. This is
very helpful to find specific data, and it was easy to use, which I really liked.

Towson University. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. <http://www.towson.edu/>.

This is a main web site for Towson University located in Towson, Maryland. Student can
look through different pages to explore different parts of Towson University. They can easily
find information about current researches going on at the campus, possible articles in
publications, and visual documents to share with other students who are looking for possible
research works or are interested in looking through what opportunities are available to them.
Through this website, I first found my mentor's bio and his research interest. It is actually
very helpful because the description of faculty at Towson University is very in detail. Also,
different research topics are explained thoroughly with professor's beginning of interest in the
particular topic, how he pursued the research, and what he is working on currently at Towson.
There are also a variety of research topics and interest listed on the school website, which can
possibly be very helpful in the future.
Ursell, Luke K., et al. "Comparison of the Vaginal Microbial Communities in Women with
Recurrent Genital HSV Receiving Acyclovir Intravaginal Rings." Antiviral Research 102
(2014): 87-94. Print.
The reason many researchers choose intravaginal rings (IVR) to prevent herpes and other
virus is the implant gave good results and data related to drug release rates. It stays intact without
having much exposures. This article deals with comparing the vaginal microbial communities in
women with recurring HSV virus and IVR biofilms. They were testing to see if the use of this
particular device in women affects the continual outbreak of HSV. They used decoding the
rRNA code like a bar-code, trying to match if they are related. The taxonomic comparison
showed that the device was not purposely enriched with microbial fluids, not altering the
women's vaginal communities. Therefore, it proved that using IVR is safe for preventing viruses
and introducing drug to women's bodies.
This is actually a really great source proving that the method I am working on is a safe
method, and it is known to be one of the better methods to induce drugs to prevent sexual
viruses. This taxonomic comparison helps proving that using the ring does not affect the
occurrence of HSV virus, and it is actually a good method to release same amount of drug per
day. Looking at the reference sections, the authors used many reliable sources to reference back
and help on their research. Along with the descriptions and explanations, there are colored
graphs and visualizations that help the readers see more clearly of the overall data. The diction
they used and jargon in the article are a little confusing since I am not an expert researcher yet;
however, this is a good exposure to unusual terms related to the field of medicine and virus
research.

White Memorial Chemistry Library. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

<http://www.lib.umd.edu/chemistry/electronic-resources/databases/science-databases>.
This is one of University of Maryland: College Park's online databases. Many colleges
open their databases to students other than their own school, but UMCP especially has a variety
of open-access databases. They are divided into different subjects, ranging from fine arts to
engineering. I chose the science and engineering section to explore, since my topic relates to
science. The databases are organized alphabetically, and each section of the library consists of 20
different databases. Most are open to anyone to access, only few are open for currently enrolled
students at UMCP.
From this site, I could find other science-related databases more in date. This site has
helped me find many reliable sources and health-related books. I liked how they were open to
other people, since I know some of university's databases are only open to students. This site
contains abstracts, reliable journals, encyclopedias, and more that can be very useful in the
future. Some of the sites are very specific in their topics, so I really liked the specificity.