Uncovering Potential Antibiotics within Soils

Antibiotic resistance is becoming increasingly dangerous due to the fact that bacteria is constantly evolving to protect itself from the harshest environment, including a defense against our antibiotic treatment. If we don’t deal with this type of problem, then in a few years at a time, antibiotic resistance will kill more people than cancer will ever kill within the short duration of time. My research for antibiotics will be produced from my very own soil sample that has been collected in my preferred location. There are many billions of types of bacteria that live within our soils, constantly growing and killing each other. To accomplish this project, I will go through the process of testing each potential bacterial candidate to be elevated and deemed worthy of being called an antibiotic. I have learned, throughout the duration of this project, that soils have many potential bacteria that produce antibiotic activity that inhibits other bacterial growth. In our testing of many potential candidates we will identify which bacteria is the best candidate out of all the other candidates, using genetic and metabolic approaches in this project. This project of mine could possibly help to create new antibiotics and attract other scientists to study further of the best candidate and inspire other novice scientists in college to compare and possibly help to fight against antibiotic resistance with this little contribution to the medical field.