An Investigation of Soil Microbes and Their Potential Role in Combating Antibiotic Resistance

The specific topic for this poster is trying to find antibiotics from a soil sample that can be used against antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are commonly found in hospitals. The problem is that more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics than antibiotics that fight the bacteria are being found or created. The problem exists because of the overuse of common antibiotics over the years or from the misuse of antibiotics, like not taking a complete dose of antibiotics when prescribed. Performed a serial dilution using a soil sample to isolate bacteria that may have been found in the soil, and found zones of inhibition. From the bacteria that caused zones of inhibition, we tested them against the safe ESKAPES, checking to see if they had created zones of inhibition against any of the six safe ESKAPES. One of the bacteria from my serial dilution created a zone of inhibition in the serial dilution plate and created a zone of inhibition against Escherichia coli.