Searching for New Antibiotics

The purpose and goal of the research done this semester was to learn how to use microbiology lab techniques in a very useful way by looking for possible soil microbes to be used as antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance has become a very alarming issue so it is very beneficial to look for possible candidates while learning about microbiology. Many of the skills learned in this lab may very much be used again later in life depending on career choice. The techniques learned in the class are as follows. Aseptic technique to transfer microbes without contamination. Examples of this is transferring microbes to plates with occultation loop, swab sampling, and air sampling with MAS 100. Serial dilution to gather information on the soil used and to find possible candidates. Then a master plate and antibiotic screening plate were used to test the ability of candidates to inhibit the growth of other microbes. Once one candidate was chosen to work with, more information was gathered on it by gram staining, acid fast stain, spore stain, and PCR. Gathering information on the candidate by all of these tests helps to identify the microbe to see if it is possible a new microbe to use for antibiotics or if it is one already discovered