Sunday Afternoon, University Library.
Lucy found a place to sit as she dropped stacks of books on the table.
She carefully placed her laptop on the table, and she immediately dived into the studying.
"Already studying, I see?"
Lucy raised her head, and grinned when she saw Daniel.
"You’re early," she narrowed her eyes, and tipped her head to one of the seats.
"I’m always early." He shrugged. "You’ve noticed that already."
Lucy only shook her head and returned to arranging the books.
The next to arrive was Sasha. She gave them a curt greeting, dropping a stack of research papers onto the table.
"She’s scary," Daniel whispered to Lucy who raises her brows.
"I heard that," Sasha spoke up, causing Daniel to jolt.
Lucy stifled a laugh before she returned to her screen.
The last two to arrive were Maya and Victor. Victor’s complaints could be heard from a mile afar.
"I missed football practice for this," he whined.
"This is important," Maya countered, her voice small.
He casually slung an arm around Maya’s shoulders, cocking his head to one side. "Maya, do you watch football?"
They finally reached the table.
"Hi," Maya greeted, trying to shrug Victor’s arm, but it was futile.
"Lucy," Victor whined when his gaze landed on Lucy. "Do you know I missed football practice because of this?"
"Knock it off," Sasha spoke, throwing him an irritated glance.
"Ice goddess, you actually have an expression?"
Lucy’s lips twitched. "I’m sorry you had to miss practice, Victor. But this is also equally important."
He nodded. "I know." Then his lips curled into a sly grin as he took the seat beside Sasha. "Maybe after this is completed, I’ll invite all four of you to a football match." He turned to Sasha, "what do you think, Ice goddess."
"No, thank you. I have better things to do than to watch a football match." She rejected him promptly. "And please, for the love of God, stop referring to me as Ice goddess. I have a name. And it’s Sasha."
Victor’s lips parted, and he wanted to reply, but Daniel was quick to stop him.
"Okay, that’s enough."
Victor clamped his lips shut, and he let out a heavy exhale.
Lucy glanced at him sympathetically, before her gaze moved around the table.
"I assumed everyone did their part. It’s why we are here today. To share our findings."
Just as quickly, Victor’s expression changed as he grinned. "Professor Sterling said it accounted for fifteen percent of our marks."
"Marks are a powerful motivator," Daniel laughed.
"I didn’t know you cared about your grades." Sasha glanced at him, a look of disinterest in her eyes.
Victor smirked. "There are a lot you don’t know about me. Want to find out?"
Sasha’s eyes flared as she glared at him.
Lucy cleared her throat. "Shall we begin?"
"I was able to identify four bacteria commonly associated with multidrug resistance." Maya said, sliding her book across the table. "I had to narrow my search to multidrug resistance."
Lucy picked it up, and her lips moved up, clearly impressed.
"You did well, Maya." She praised.
Maya’s cheeks turned red, as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you."
"I was able to compare existing antibiotics with this compound," Victor stated, but ran a hand through his hair. "But I was only able to narrow three antibiotics with a similar structure to the compound."
He blew out a breath. "I feel like I’ve let you down."
Lucy firmly shook her head. "You’ve done well. In fact, you’ve made our work easier. By narrowing the antibiotics down, we can check to see what bacteria they work against."
"No way!"
Daniel nodded. "Lucy is right. You actually did well. Our work has become relatively easier now."
"Fucking yeah!" Victor threw a punch into the air, excitement written all over his face.
Sasha’s lips twitched beside him, but before anyone noticed it, her expression turned blank.
"I noticed that these existing drugs fight bacteria the same way. But I have a feeling that this molecule was designed to fight it another way."
"Like taking a different route?" Maya asked, her brows furrowing in deep concentration.
"Exactly." He nodded.
"I agree with Daniel," Sasha picked up one of the papers placed in front of her. "Reviewing recent patents and journals suggested one thing— they all modify the molecule to improve penetration or prevent drug degradation.
"Every patent I reviewed follows the same design philosophy. This compound doesn’t."
The table turned silent, each grappling with their thoughts.
Lucy looked at the book in her hand, her mind swirling with different thoughts.
"We are trying to find the bacteria this molecule was specially designed for, right?" She asked, her hands clasped in front of her.
"Yes?"
"Can we find out what bacteria these antibiotics—" she pointed to Victor’s paper, her eyes glistening with excitement, "—fight against?"
"Already on it," Sasha murmured.
Victor rubbed his hands, bouncing slightly in his seat. "So?"
Sasha’s fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard.
A few seconds later, she frowned. "They are too many."
"What?" Victor groaned.
"The antibiotics you listed aren’t exclusive to one organism," she turned the laptop towards them. "They overlap."
Lucy leaned closer. Across the screen were several names.
MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Acinetobacter baumannii.
Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Daniel frowned.
"Are we back to where we started?" Victor asked, his eyes darting across the screen.
"Not exactly," Maya said quietly.
They all turned their head towards her.
She flipped through her notebook until she found a page crowded with handwritten notes. "These three were on my shortlist too."
Victor blinked. "Seriously?"
She nodded. "I eliminated several resistant bacteria because their resistance mechanisms didn’t match the compound." She pointed at the page. "These are the only ones that kept showing up."
Lucy felt her pulse quicken. "So both your research and Victor’s point to similar bacteria."
Daniel stared at the three names for a long moment. "So we have three suspects. That’s our first real lead."
Lucy nodded slowly. "But three is still too many."
Victor groaned dramatically. "We spent two hours just to go from four bacteria to three?"
"No." Lucy shook her head. "We did more than that."
She reached for a marker and wrote the three names across the top of a blank sheet. "We’ve eliminated dozens already."
Maya nodded. "Which means the compound probably wasn’t designed for every multidrug-resistant bacterium... it was designed for one."
Sasha folded her arms. "Or one family."
Daniel’s eyes lit up. "So how do we separate them?"
Lucy looked down at Victor’s comparison. "The antibiotics."
Everyone waited.
"If these antibiotics treat all three..." she murmured, "...then comparing what they have in common won’t help."
Victor frowned. "So what do we compare?"
Lucy stared at the three names she’d written, before she looked back at Maya. "The differences."
Silence reigned as they tried to understand her words.
Maya caught on almost immediately. "The way each bacterium becomes resistant."
Lucy smiled. "Exactly. Their resistance mechanisms."
Daniel snapped his fingers. "There it is."
Sasha immediately reached for her laptop. "So our next task isn’t chemistry."
"It’s microbiology." Maya supplied.
Victor threw both hands into the air. "Fantastic. We’ve officially crossed into another department."
Maya giggled, earning her a playful glare from Victor.
He stuffed his notebook into his bag with an exaggerated sigh. "I signed up for Pharmacy."
Daniel looked at him. "You are studying Pharmacy."
Victor gestured dramatically at the mountain of books and papers covering the table.
"No. This..." He pointed at the mess. "...this feels like three different degrees."
Daniel laughed.
Maya covered her mouth, trying to hide a giggle, but failing.
Lucy couldn’t help smiling.
Sasha zipped her laptop into her bag without even looking up as she said.
"It gets worse."
Victor stared at her for a full second.
"...I’m suddenly very concerned."
Laughter erupted around the table.
Lucy smiled.
It wasn’t the answer... but they were one step closer.