Does Water Content in Soil Have a Significant Effect on Bacterial Diversity or the Presence of Antibiotic Producing Bacteria?

Class: BIOL 0940G – Antibiotic Drug Discovery: Identifying Novel Soil Microbes to Combat Antibiotic Resistance

Instructor(s): Dr. Toni-Marie Achilli  

Student(s): Jack Nisimblat (Health and Human Bio ’22), Adam Fuller, Jack Sloane, Josh Reitz, Ryan Bain

“The CURE class setup influenced me to be more critical of scientific papers, spending time in class to present and critique scientific literature.”

-Jack Nisimblat

Description: 

Our group hoped to determine the effects of soil water content on bacterial diversity, as well as the presence of antibiotic producing bacteria. We were not able to determine the effects of water content on the presence of antibiotic producing bacteria, as our experiments were cute short due to the pandemic. Overall the CURE program has given us the opportunity to learn more about what goes on in a research environment and has given me personally a greater confidence with laboratory techniques and procedures.