Candidate Screening

Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem in medicine, creating a need for new antibiotics. This project focused on finding potential antibiotic-producing bacteria in soil. I collected a soil sample from my backyard in Prairie Village, KS, and discovered a promising bacteria, which I named Candidate Meadowlake. To test its ability to fight bacteria, I used methods such as serial dilution, Gram and spore staining, and testing it against relatives of ESKAPE pathogens. These tests helped determine whether the bacteria could produce a new antibiotic. This research adds to efforts to find new medicines and shows the potential of soil bacteria in the fight against antibiotic resistance.