Antibiotic discovery in soil

Increasing antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria has complicated the treatment of bacterial infections. This has led to the increased mortality and morbidity of infections that were once manageable using common antibiotics. This can make simple surgeries very dangerous if were to become infected with bacteria that are resistant to our current antibiotics. There is an urgent need for the discovery of new antibiotics, thus in this study bacteria were isolated from soil samples to test for the presence of antimicrobial compounds against safe relatives of EKAPE pathogens by isolating bacteria cultures from soil found on the University of Dayton’s campus in hopes of finding some that produce antibiotics. soil samples were isolated and specific colonies were chosen to be purified and identified through an array of biochemical tests. Colonies were then sequenced to determine the exact species isolated. Antimicrobial compounds were extracted and tested for efficacy against safe relatives of the EKAPE pathogens. In addition, compounds were tested for toxicity against eukaryotic cells to confirm the safety of isolated antimicrobial compounds. This research provided a hands-on experience that enhanced the discovery of antibiotics in the field of microbiology.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/3420/thumbnail.jp