Finding Novel Antibiotic Producing Bacteria

Abstract

The demand for new antibiotics is extremely high due to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is causing common infections to become untreatable. The problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria is exacerbated by the thirty year gap in antibiotic discovery. Antibiotics are naturally occurring chemicals secreted from bacteria or fungi that kill other microbes. Thus, antibiotic producing bacteria are typically found in locations with high levels of competition with other microbes, such as the soil. Our goal is to use soil samples to find bacteria that produce previously unknown antibiotics in the hopes of postponing a post-antibiotic era.