About Me
Hello My name is Sam Zwernik and I created this web page for my
Organismal Biology class. I am currently a sophomore at the
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. I am majoring in Biology with a
Biomedical concentration. My hope is to work in the medical field
after graduating. I am from Chetek, Wisconsin, and in my free time I
enjoy water skiing, playing guitar, baseball, and hanging out with
friends.
I chose Phyllanthus niruri due to its incredible medical uses. When I was first searching through our list of different medicinal organisms, Stonebreaker caught my eye due to the fact that it has the potential to help cure HIV. HIV is a terrible virus which causes AIDS and is responsible for millions of deaths each year. Slowing down or completely curing this disease would be a major breakthrough, and it's exciting that Phyllanthus niruri could help accomplish this. In addition, Phyllanthus niruri has shown signs of anti-tumor activity. This has a special place in my heart as my four-year-old niece is going through chemotherapy to decrease the tumor she has. Maybe someday P. niruri could replace chemotherapy as treatment for tumors. Through my research I found this plant to be very interesting, and other people should find it interesting as well due to its numerous medical uses.
I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Sandland and Dr. Volk for all their help. Also a big thanks to ITS for helping me resolve the technical issues I had and getting my web page published. Finally, I would like to thank Brett Everson and Travis Peterson for their insight.
I would also like to thank Dr. M.P. Mishra, dotcompalsphotoblog, Elisabeth Paluch and everyone else who let me use their amazing photos.
I hope you enjoyed visiting my site, and found my information interesting and helpful. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me anytime at zwernik.samu@uwlax.edu.
If you're curious about the sources I've used to help make this web page possible please take a look at my references.