Finding Antimicrobials in Soil

Antimicrobials are microbes that produce a zone of inhibition. This is important because those microbes can be used to produce antibiotics. When we overuse antibiotics the bacteria can develop antibiotic resistance. When this happens new antibiotics are needed. In class we went through the process of trying to find new antibiotics. We completed experiments in serial dilution, master plating, antibiotic screening, PCR, and gel electrophoresis. Finding new antibiotics can create new opportunities and potentially save lives.