Start Date
28-4-2022 10:30 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
Antibiotic resistance has reached epidemic proportions across the globe. Unnecessary use, overuse, and improper use of prescription antibiotics in both the medical and agricultural fields have provided countless opportunities for bacterial organisms to evolve into treatment-resistant powerhouses. To add fuel to the fire, the development of new antibiotics is cost prohibitive for many drug manufacturers. Enter Tiny Earth. An organization that exists to partner with emerging microbiology scientists in colleges around the world, Tiny Earth provides curriculum and instruction to guide students through the basics of microbiology: sourcing, organism-counting, isolating, testing, staining and slide preparation, examining, and potentially identifying new bacteria with antibiotic properties in soil from their own backyards. The soil sampled from the Bonner Springs countryside showed exciting promise after serial dilution. Ten potential candidates with marked zones of inhibition (ZOI) were isolated and challenged against instructor-provided pathogens. The most promising candidate (Ellsworth Pink) was further explored by differential staining, microscopy techniques, and additional pathogen challenges. However, Ellsworth Pink ultimately did not show strong enough resistance to the pathogens to meet the criteria for continuing in the semester-long experiment. Fortunately, a colleague was willing to share one of his candidates (CS04), sampled from Overland Park. The early data on CS04 is very optimistic. Extremely visible ZOI were present with multiple pathogen challenges. Differential staining, organism microscopy, and gene sequencing have yet to be completed, due to the abstract submission deadline. Will CS04 be the next Penicillin? Time will tell. Discover the complete data of CS04 at the Symposium!
Does Kansas Soil Hold the Next Great Antibiotic?
Antibiotic resistance has reached epidemic proportions across the globe. Unnecessary use, overuse, and improper use of prescription antibiotics in both the medical and agricultural fields have provided countless opportunities for bacterial organisms to evolve into treatment-resistant powerhouses. To add fuel to the fire, the development of new antibiotics is cost prohibitive for many drug manufacturers. Enter Tiny Earth. An organization that exists to partner with emerging microbiology scientists in colleges around the world, Tiny Earth provides curriculum and instruction to guide students through the basics of microbiology: sourcing, organism-counting, isolating, testing, staining and slide preparation, examining, and potentially identifying new bacteria with antibiotic properties in soil from their own backyards. The soil sampled from the Bonner Springs countryside showed exciting promise after serial dilution. Ten potential candidates with marked zones of inhibition (ZOI) were isolated and challenged against instructor-provided pathogens. The most promising candidate (Ellsworth Pink) was further explored by differential staining, microscopy techniques, and additional pathogen challenges. However, Ellsworth Pink ultimately did not show strong enough resistance to the pathogens to meet the criteria for continuing in the semester-long experiment. Fortunately, a colleague was willing to share one of his candidates (CS04), sampled from Overland Park. The early data on CS04 is very optimistic. Extremely visible ZOI were present with multiple pathogen challenges. Differential staining, organism microscopy, and gene sequencing have yet to be completed, due to the abstract submission deadline. Will CS04 be the next Penicillin? Time will tell. Discover the complete data of CS04 at the Symposium!
Comments
The faculty mentor for this project was Angela Consani, Biology .