UDM students featured in deodorant commercial after lab experiment

When Meena Hanna and Malena Gjorgjevski left their first microbiology lab of the Winter 2025 semester, neither imagined where Hanna’s armpit would lead them over the next few months.  

The University of Detroit Mercy students were partners for an experiment in Associate Professor Jim Graves’ lab that focused on bacteria growth from various collected samples, including from an armpit. After a week, the petri plate that contained the sample from Hanna’s armpit showed little to no bacteria growth compared to her classmates’ results. 

“I was wearing this deodorant when we swabbed our armpits and I wasn’t even thinking about it at all,” Hanna said. 

That deodorant was a lotion-based antiperspirant called Carpe. Hanna wrote to Carpe through an Instagram message about the results of the experiment and to her surprise the company asked her and Gjorgjevski to recreate and film their experiment at UDM for a commercial for the company.  

A few months later, Carpe flew them to its Durham, N.C., headquarters to record a professionally shot advertisement. 

“It was such a really good experience, all from her armpit,” Gjorgjevski said. 

Hanna discovered Carpe through TikTok and Instagram and started using their deodorant to help with sweat prevention while exercising. She wrote to the company only after some convincing from Gjorgjevski. 

Even then, her expectations were low. 

“She told me that you should send it to them and see what happens,” Hanna said. “It ended up turning into a bigger thing. I thought they were going to just say, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’” 

After hearing from Carpe in January, Hanna and Gjorgjevski—who are both senior Biology students on a Pre-Dental track—told Graves about what happened and asked for a new petri plate to recreate their experiment. This time, the plate had no bacteria growth, Hanna said. 

“I didn’t know if my swabbing technique was bad until we redid it,” Gjorgjevski said. “And I’m like, wait, this is big news.” 

At first, Gjorgjevski thought Hanna might get free deodorant from Carpe—they both did during their visit to the company’s headquarters, where they talked about their experience with its products for a commercial. But the experience taught them to take chances. 

“I told her to DM (direct message) them thinking it was just to get a response, because I actually thought it was a cool experiment,” Gjorgjevski said. “If we never sent that in, none of that would’ve happened. We would have our results and go on with our day.” 

Their findings left an impact on Carpe, too. 

“They have different ads incorporating petri plates now, and they do that because I sent that,” Hanna said. “Now they know that it doesn’t cause bacteria growth. They didn’t know that before I did that.” 

UDM’s learning environments have long fostered growth and opportunities for students like Hanna and Gjorgjevski. They appreciate how supportive and interested Graves was as they worked with Carpe. 

“We told Professor Graves about what we did and he let us stay after lab and was all for it,” Gjorgjevski said. “He gave us extra petri dishes and was super involved with it.” 

“He took time out of his day, when he could’ve gone home or whatever,” added Hanna. “But he stayed with us to help with our research, which means so much. 

“He was super on board and interested. He was invested in it more than we were.” 

The experience taught them another, larger lesson.  

“Students are probably like, ‘OK, let me just do this assignment and get it done and over with,’ but I feel like we did an assignment and can actually help someone that you don’t even know,” Gjorgjevski said. “There’s a purpose to everything you do.”