Results:

1. Simulation of Lung Conditions for Pea Plant Growth Fatima Ezzeddine, Yassemine Khawajkie, Carole Baraké and N.A. Saliba Chemistry Department, American University of Beirut Results: Discussion: • The following conditions were not available in the experiment and we suspect that this may have affected our germination results: • Temperature of 37°C • Glucosamine and galactosamine • Glycine and proline are components of the elastin and collagen fibers of the lungs. They may have affected the germination in Sveden’s case. However, these amino acids were also unavailable. • As expected, the lung conditions allowed seed germination, yet this germination was not as good as the one under optimum conditions. • Based on our results, we concluded that the temperature effect outweighs the pH effect on germination. • We would like to point out that we kept our seeds in the dark at all times (except for brief periods for growth measurements). Background: • Ron Sveden is a 75 year old emphysema patient that had a pea plant germinate in his lung. • Doctors believe Mr. Sveden ate a pea that "went down the wrong way" before sprouting to 12mm in size. The warm and moist conditions are thought to have encouraged it to grow (Leach, 2010). • Can Mr. Sveden’s case be simulated under the same conditions of pH and temperature? References: • Leach, Ben. (2010, August 12). 'Cancer' patient grows pea plant in his lung. The Telegraph, Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7940710/Cancer-patient-grows-pea-plant-in-his-lung.h • Riofrio , Marianne . (n.d.). Growing peas and snap beans in the home garden. Unpublished manuscript, The Ohio State University, Ohio, United States. Retrieved from http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1617.html • Sarfaruz, Irum. (2011, February 11). The optimum germination temperature for peas. eHow Home, Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7982146_optimum-germination-temperature-peas.html Experimental Procedure: • Assuming that the pea seeds did not extract any nutrients from the lung tissues, cotton was used as growth medium. • pH and temperature were varied using a phosphate buffer and an incubator. • Root growth was measured in millimeters everyday at 11am. • Thus, growth was measured for samples according to the conditions in the following table: • Three samples were prepared under each condition, as shown in the table above, for a total of 12 samples. • The phosphate buffer was used to create solutions with the two different pHs (7.4 and 6.2). • These solutions were used to keep the cotton matrix moist. • In the end, two identical trays were obtained. One was kept at room temperature ( ̴24°C) and the other was kept in an incubator at 40.5°C because that was the only incubator available. This graph shows the growth in millimeters of pea plant roots over 7 days. Maximum growth was observed under the optimum conditions (green). Less growth was observed under lung conditions (blue). • Acknowledgement: • Dr Atamian Samson for allowing us to use the incubator for an entire week. • These pictures were taken on the 7th day: • The picture on the left was kept under optimum conditions and showed maximum growth. • The right pea was kept under the lung conditions.