Brief blurb: This summer I sought to isolate and identify a possible antiparasitic compound that may be present in a particular invasive tree species, Paulownia tomentosa. The reason this tree species has been selected is that it is hypothesized to give resistance to the Allegheny woodrat from parasite mortality. The Allegheny woodrat has been in decline for the past 30 years and is now an endangered species. Studies have linked the decline of the woodrat with parasite infection of the raccoon roundworm, Bayliascaris procyonis. To test our hypothesis, I conducted toxicity tests, using extracts from the tree, on the free living Caenorhabditis elegans, which was used as the test organism. In preparation for the toxicity tests, I had to chemically extract plant material, propagate C. elegans for the testing, and culture Escherichia coli to feed the C. elegans.