Searching for The One: Discovering New Antibiotics
Location
CoLab, OCB 100
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:30 PM
Document Type
Poster
Description
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are becoming a large problem when hospitals are unable to treat basic infections, something that is becoming all too common. The Small World Initiative is an undergraduate research program that encourages students to use a unique combination of science, research and lab practices that focus on the world’s antibiotic crisis. Students obtain soil from their surrounding environment to test, examine and demonstrate bacterial resistance in the 59 institutions its practiced. The soil’s ecosystem is where the majority of our current antibiotics have originated. Thus far, having isolated a soil sample of my own to be tested and investigated for its own unique chance at resisting six strains of common bacteria; regularly called the ESKAPE pathogens. These pathogens are the leading cause of multidrug resistant infections throughout the world. In testing, we use their six ‘safe relatives’ that are closely related in DNA, but not very virulent. This testing is the precursor to being a potential candidate for antibiotics. The best candidates, ones that show a large zone of inhibition during plating and growth, will be put through further research of identification by performing PCR, gene sequencing, metabolic and biochemical testing. Through these practices, I will potentially find a new form of bacteria to function as an antibiotic in a world that is running out of options.
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Searching for The One: Discovering New Antibiotics
CoLab, OCB 100
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are becoming a large problem when hospitals are unable to treat basic infections, something that is becoming all too common. The Small World Initiative is an undergraduate research program that encourages students to use a unique combination of science, research and lab practices that focus on the world’s antibiotic crisis. Students obtain soil from their surrounding environment to test, examine and demonstrate bacterial resistance in the 59 institutions its practiced. The soil’s ecosystem is where the majority of our current antibiotics have originated. Thus far, having isolated a soil sample of my own to be tested and investigated for its own unique chance at resisting six strains of common bacteria; regularly called the ESKAPE pathogens. These pathogens are the leading cause of multidrug resistant infections throughout the world. In testing, we use their six ‘safe relatives’ that are closely related in DNA, but not very virulent. This testing is the precursor to being a potential candidate for antibiotics. The best candidates, ones that show a large zone of inhibition during plating and growth, will be put through further research of identification by performing PCR, gene sequencing, metabolic and biochemical testing. Through these practices, I will potentially find a new form of bacteria to function as an antibiotic in a world that is running out of options.
Comments
The faculty supervisor of this project was Jon Kniss, Biology.