Tiny Earth

Antibiotic resistance has become one of the leading health concerns around the world. Resistance occurs when bacteria change and no longer respond to antibiotic medicines, this happens when antibiotics are overused or used incorrectly. Due to this pressing matter, Dr. Jo Handelsman created a project for college students called Tiny Earth. The mission is for students to discover antibiotics from the soil in their own backyard (Tiny Earth, 2025). I have collected my own soil sample from my yard and have begun carrying out the steps. This includes serial dilution, master plate, inhibit safe ESKAPEs, isolate pure cultures of antibiotic producers. I have yet to be able to isolate any antibiotic producers that inhibit safe ESKAPEs, this means that my soil sample does not have any antibiotic producing microbes. By finding these potential microbes, we are actively looking for more natural antibiotics to bacteria.