Start Date
27-4-2023 10:30 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
Antibiotics have become a vital piece in the medical world for fighting off diseases and infection; which is why it has become an extensive threat when we see resistance to our antibiotics today. Antibiotic resistance is when microbes evolve and gain the capacity to survive the antibiotics that were intended to eliminate them. Unfortunately, this problem is growing rapidly so the discovery of new sources to diminish this matter is crucial. Soil is an excellent resource for finding non-pathogenic bacterial organisms that produce antibiotics. In an effort to help, I gathered and examined a soil sample from a property in Paola, KS hoping to find any new antibiotic producing bacteria. From this sample, I cultured 10 different candidate species that I tested against the safe relatives of the known ESKAPE pathogens, for which only two of my candidates were able to inhibit. These tests lead me to a very promising organism, which I call MAD-C. MAD-C has the ability to strongly inhibit both safe relative strains, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli. This data can suggest inhibition for these strains’ related ESKAPE pathogens, which can help determine if it has the possibility of being a new antibiotic. MAD-C will undergo PCR, Gel Electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing to reveal its true identity. Once we know what MAD-C is, its identity and beneficial properties will be shared at the Symposium.
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MAD-C: A New Antibiotic Discovery
Antibiotics have become a vital piece in the medical world for fighting off diseases and infection; which is why it has become an extensive threat when we see resistance to our antibiotics today. Antibiotic resistance is when microbes evolve and gain the capacity to survive the antibiotics that were intended to eliminate them. Unfortunately, this problem is growing rapidly so the discovery of new sources to diminish this matter is crucial. Soil is an excellent resource for finding non-pathogenic bacterial organisms that produce antibiotics. In an effort to help, I gathered and examined a soil sample from a property in Paola, KS hoping to find any new antibiotic producing bacteria. From this sample, I cultured 10 different candidate species that I tested against the safe relatives of the known ESKAPE pathogens, for which only two of my candidates were able to inhibit. These tests lead me to a very promising organism, which I call MAD-C. MAD-C has the ability to strongly inhibit both safe relative strains, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli. This data can suggest inhibition for these strains’ related ESKAPE pathogens, which can help determine if it has the possibility of being a new antibiotic. MAD-C will undergo PCR, Gel Electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing to reveal its true identity. Once we know what MAD-C is, its identity and beneficial properties will be shared at the Symposium.
Comments
The faculty mentor for this project was Jamie Cunningham, Biology.