Lucien

In Microbiology this semester, students were tasked with collecting soil samples in hopes of finding microbes capable of inhibiting other bacterial species. We put our colonies up against safe relatives of well known pathogens to see if they secrete antibiotics. After collecting soil from a construction site on the highway near the River Market in Downtown Kansas City, I was shocked to find a unique colony that I’ve named Lucien. Bright orange in color and secreting his vibrant hue into the medium it inhabited on my petri dish, he had promising potential. Lucien has displayed complete inhibition against P. putida and E. faecalis. He has displayed a large zone of inhibition against both A. baylyi and S. epidermidis. Most impressive, Lucien’s inhibition against B. subtilis had such a large zone of inhibition that it expanded into the other quadrants surrounding him on the screening petri dish. Infections like pneumonia caused by P. putida's ESKAPE pathogen relative could be treated with the chemicals Lucien is making.