Start Date
28-4-2022 10:30 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
Infectious diseases that are resistant to antibiotic treatment are a major threat to global health. Similarly alarming, the discovery of new antibiotics has slowed dramatically over the last few decades. Many trusted antibiotics were originally discovered in soil samples by observing organisms in the dirt that inhibited the growth of surrounding bacteria. Because the bacteria found in dirt varies greatly from location to location, one proposed solution to the threat of antibiotic resistant infections is to observe the bacteria in soil samples from around the world via crowdsourcing. That is why for this research project, I gathered samples of dirt from my own garden bed as well as from a pond in Spring Hill, KS to isolate bacterial colonies from the soil. From these soil samples I identified 12 bacteria colonies that inhibited the growth of surrounding bacteria. I tested these organisms against safe close relatives of ESKAPE pathogens, which are a group of deadly bacterial pathogens with high rates of antibiotic resistance. I found one of my 12 colonies shows the ability to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli as well as Staphylococcus epidermidis, a close relative of MRSA.
Using Soil to Address Antibiotic Resistance Crisis
Infectious diseases that are resistant to antibiotic treatment are a major threat to global health. Similarly alarming, the discovery of new antibiotics has slowed dramatically over the last few decades. Many trusted antibiotics were originally discovered in soil samples by observing organisms in the dirt that inhibited the growth of surrounding bacteria. Because the bacteria found in dirt varies greatly from location to location, one proposed solution to the threat of antibiotic resistant infections is to observe the bacteria in soil samples from around the world via crowdsourcing. That is why for this research project, I gathered samples of dirt from my own garden bed as well as from a pond in Spring Hill, KS to isolate bacterial colonies from the soil. From these soil samples I identified 12 bacteria colonies that inhibited the growth of surrounding bacteria. I tested these organisms against safe close relatives of ESKAPE pathogens, which are a group of deadly bacterial pathogens with high rates of antibiotic resistance. I found one of my 12 colonies shows the ability to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli as well as Staphylococcus epidermidis, a close relative of MRSA.
Comments
The faculty mentor for this project was Jamie Cunningham, Biology .