Fighting Antibiotic Resistance with Soil Microbes

This research focuses on using soil as a medium to find new microbes with antibiotic-producing properties. Antibiotic resistance in the hospital setting creates an incredibly challenging barrier to fighting common bacterial infections. This problem has been exacerbated due to the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. It is therefore critical to search for new antibiotics to solve this issue. In this research, a soil sample was diluted and cultured to find potential candidates that may exhibit antibiotic-producing properties. Safe ESKAPEs were tested against these candidates, and one candidate was found to inhibit S. epidermidis, A. baylyi, and E. faecalis . This candidate was isolated to determine its properties, and could be a promising alternative to fight bacterial infections in future treatments in the fight against antibiotic resistance.