Start Date
28-4-2022 12:00 PM
Document Type
Poster
Description
Over the years, with lots of research, scientists have run into the problem of pathogens becoming antibiotic resistant. Students' goal is to use crowd-sourcing efforts in order to find new antibiotics. Students are trying to discover new bacteria from samples of soil that have not yet been collected that can help obtain a new antibiotic that will help fight the pathogens. One gram of soil contains at least 1,000 bacterial species. Students gathered a soil sample from a unique area of their choice. For student one she collected her soil sample 100-200 meters away from a small dog park, in Olathe, KS, at the Signature Place apartments. From that soil sample, it was then serial diluted in a series of steps to then be able to plate the solution and obtain possible candidates with inhibition, (this is an area of media where bacteria are unable to grow, due to presence of a drug that impedes their growth). A master plate was then created from selecting candidates from the serial dilution plates. From that master plate the candidates were then screened for inhibition of ESKAPE pathogens. Such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterobacter aerogenes, etc. Then once some candidates showed inhibition on ESKAPE pathogens they were streaked on a plate to create a pure isolated culture. One candidate was then picked out that showed good inhibition. Once a pure isolated culture was created, we would use the PCR technique to "amplify" small segments of DNA. Then we would take the amplified DNA and use the gel electrophoresis technique to separate biological molecules by size, so we can visualize the DNA more accurately.
Antibiotic-Producing Bacteria from the Signature Place Apartments
Over the years, with lots of research, scientists have run into the problem of pathogens becoming antibiotic resistant. Students' goal is to use crowd-sourcing efforts in order to find new antibiotics. Students are trying to discover new bacteria from samples of soil that have not yet been collected that can help obtain a new antibiotic that will help fight the pathogens. One gram of soil contains at least 1,000 bacterial species. Students gathered a soil sample from a unique area of their choice. For student one she collected her soil sample 100-200 meters away from a small dog park, in Olathe, KS, at the Signature Place apartments. From that soil sample, it was then serial diluted in a series of steps to then be able to plate the solution and obtain possible candidates with inhibition, (this is an area of media where bacteria are unable to grow, due to presence of a drug that impedes their growth). A master plate was then created from selecting candidates from the serial dilution plates. From that master plate the candidates were then screened for inhibition of ESKAPE pathogens. Such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterobacter aerogenes, etc. Then once some candidates showed inhibition on ESKAPE pathogens they were streaked on a plate to create a pure isolated culture. One candidate was then picked out that showed good inhibition. Once a pure isolated culture was created, we would use the PCR technique to "amplify" small segments of DNA. Then we would take the amplified DNA and use the gel electrophoresis technique to separate biological molecules by size, so we can visualize the DNA more accurately.
Comments
The faculty mentor for this project was Heather Seitz, Biology.