Start Date
27-4-2023 10:30 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. Worldwide, antibiotic resistance is a threat to public health and is a priority across the globe. However, collaborative efforts towards this problem will help slow the development and spread of antibiotic resistance and protect people. This class has partnered with the Tiny Earth Network in hopes to be successful with two main objectives: to use data from thousands of researchers to investigate environmental samples for new antibiotic-producing strains of bacteria, and to provide students with a chance to conduct authentic research. For my project, I collected a sample of dirt at the edge of a pond. After collecting my dirt, I went through a series of processes to dilute my sample and culture the bacteria. After going through more testing and processes with my bacteria, I finally found a candidate that seemed promising. This candidate was off-white/tan in color and had a mostly round border. I tested this candidate against the 7 safe relatives of the ESKAPE pathogens, which are a major threat to clinical settings. By testing my candidate against these safe relatives, it can help me to determine if my candidate is secreting anything that could have an inhibitory effect on some of the world’s most notorious antibiotic-resistant pathogens. My candidate had shown moderate inhibition against Staphylococcus epidermidis, which is the safe relative of the ESKAPE pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause bloodstream infections, pneumonia, and bone and joint infections.
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The Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. Worldwide, antibiotic resistance is a threat to public health and is a priority across the globe. However, collaborative efforts towards this problem will help slow the development and spread of antibiotic resistance and protect people. This class has partnered with the Tiny Earth Network in hopes to be successful with two main objectives: to use data from thousands of researchers to investigate environmental samples for new antibiotic-producing strains of bacteria, and to provide students with a chance to conduct authentic research. For my project, I collected a sample of dirt at the edge of a pond. After collecting my dirt, I went through a series of processes to dilute my sample and culture the bacteria. After going through more testing and processes with my bacteria, I finally found a candidate that seemed promising. This candidate was off-white/tan in color and had a mostly round border. I tested this candidate against the 7 safe relatives of the ESKAPE pathogens, which are a major threat to clinical settings. By testing my candidate against these safe relatives, it can help me to determine if my candidate is secreting anything that could have an inhibitory effect on some of the world’s most notorious antibiotic-resistant pathogens. My candidate had shown moderate inhibition against Staphylococcus epidermidis, which is the safe relative of the ESKAPE pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause bloodstream infections, pneumonia, and bone and joint infections.
Comments
The faculty mentor for this project was Matthew Ducote, Biology.