Drug Discovery: Antimicrobials from Soil Samples

Superbugs, harmful bacteria that are resistant to most known antibiotics and antimicrobials, are becoming more and more of a problem in the modern world. Since known drugs are not effective in killing these bacteria, there is an absolute need for the discovery of new drugs. Though there are corporate pharmaceutical companies developing new drugs, many of these companies are focused on products that will make them the most money rather than what is required by society, leading to many neglected diseases still plaguing the world. The purpose of this study is to identify possible new antimicrobials from soil samples inside and out of the IMSA campus. The samples were diluted to isolate their different bacteria, and Master Plates were made from these colonies. These Master Plates were subjected to Spread-Patch testing to test for any visible inhibition against safe-to-handle ESKAPE pathogens and Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. Over twenty zones of inhibition were spotted against the specific bacteria, though more testing is needed to see if the samples will produce the same results with different bacteria. Active samples were then run through 16S rRNA gene PCR testing verified by Gel Electrophoresis. Samples will be sent for gene sequencing and further analyzed