The Search for Antibiotics
Location
CoLab, OCB 100
Start Date
27-4-2018 10:30 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, something must be done to identify and create new antibiotics to help eliminate this problem. Antibiotic resistance is when infectious bacteria no longer responds to given antibiotics. Antibiotics are not be produced at a rate to keep up with this problem by pharmaceutical companies. The Small World Initiative is taking the research from the companies and allowing classrooms to join the search for new antibiotics by using the soil as the main resource, which is where the majority of antibiotics are going to be found. After collecting my personal soil sample, the soil sample was diluted for isolation of bacterial colonies and a candidate was eventually picked to test for antibiotic properties through screening. In this screening, the candidate was tested against multiple bacterial species to see if it could inhibit their growth. The candidate then underwent further testing. The testing included staining techniques, PCR and sequences the genome, and metabolic and biochemical tests. This testing allows for characterization and being able to identify the candidate bacteria. This project bring about hope that a new antibiotic will be found to help the crisis by using our closest resources.
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The Search for Antibiotics
CoLab, OCB 100
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, something must be done to identify and create new antibiotics to help eliminate this problem. Antibiotic resistance is when infectious bacteria no longer responds to given antibiotics. Antibiotics are not be produced at a rate to keep up with this problem by pharmaceutical companies. The Small World Initiative is taking the research from the companies and allowing classrooms to join the search for new antibiotics by using the soil as the main resource, which is where the majority of antibiotics are going to be found. After collecting my personal soil sample, the soil sample was diluted for isolation of bacterial colonies and a candidate was eventually picked to test for antibiotic properties through screening. In this screening, the candidate was tested against multiple bacterial species to see if it could inhibit their growth. The candidate then underwent further testing. The testing included staining techniques, PCR and sequences the genome, and metabolic and biochemical tests. This testing allows for characterization and being able to identify the candidate bacteria. This project bring about hope that a new antibiotic will be found to help the crisis by using our closest resources.
Comments
The faculty supervisor for this project was Jon Kniss, Biology.