OVERVIEW
The aim of our project is to investigate mutagenicity of hair and nail products by a modified version of Ames Test. Ames test uses Salmonella typhimurium histidine auxotroph mutants but we conducted a modified version of Ames test using Escherichia coli WP2 strain.

It is highly unlikely that the common hair and nail products we are testing are mutagenic. This is because companies that manufacture them would have taken the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of the products.

Based on criteria for valid assay, we can conclude that all the nail polish we have tested have low mutagenicity with NP1 possibly being mutagenic at higher concentrations. Different components of hair dyes exhibit different mutagenic properties as shown from our results. HD2 (developer) and HD3 are potentially mutagenic. Our recommendations: Manufacturers should state all ingredients/components as well as concentrations for all products used.

FUTURE PROJECTS
In our future project, we hope to conduct tests on natural products as opposed to synthetic chemicals. This is because we encountered research that shows some natural products used in cosmetics and other household items may show mutagenicity.

Biotech Fair 2007 Consolation