Research Stories

by Margaret Coulombe

There may come a time in the very near future where curing a sore or cut could be as simple stepping out the back door--if you are in France.

Two scientists at the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are examining the antibacterial properties of French green clay. Clay has been associated with home cures since Roman times. But there have been very few scientific studies to investigate such claims.

Shelley Haydel is an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) and an expert in the study of tuberculosis. Much of her research is done at with the Center of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology at the ASU Biodesign Institute. She is testing the antimicrobial qualities of French green clay on various strains of pathogenic bacteria – with astounding results. One particular clay actually kills the bacteria.

Lynda Williams recruited Haydel to the project. Williams is a geochemist and associate research professor with the School of Earth and Space Exploration. She is an expert on clay mineralogy.

Williams has been studying the properties of clay for decades. Strangely, it was the Internet that set the two ASU scientists on their present path. Williams says that a message posted by a French humanitarian on the Clay Minerals Societies' list serve caught her eye.

The note read in part: "I guess that no American scientists are interested in helping poor people in Africa." He guessed wrong.

This story is excerpted from a recent edition of the SOLS Newsletter. To read the full text, go to: http://sols.asu.edu/sols_news/43_news_06.php