For biology this year I want to do an experiment and paper on bacteria's ability to resist antibiotics. One of the requirements is that we contact an expert in the field. Since most of you are pretty intellegent I was hoping you give me a name of someone to contact so I can talk to them.

 

Also- What would a good experimental design for this type of experiment be?

You might look into cell wall deficient organisms. Lida Mattman is coming out with a 4th edition (or so she tells me). It's interesting on how the lack of a cell wall can make a cell invisible to an antibiotic. It's a very intriguing topic

How about checking with a microbiologist at the nearest university?

Setup is pretty straightforward. A standard test is to plate the bactaeria on an agar plate and put discs with antibiotics on it. Measure the zone of inhibition. Each discs contains a different AB (or concentration).

Another standard test are MIC-tests (Minimum inhibition concentration). THese are more work. You need liquid medium, each containing rising concentrations of AB. You measure the optical density (OD) to determine which cocentration of a respective AB inhibits growth.

Note that in many countries for safety reasons you are required to kill the bacteria after use, which requires autoclaving.

I would re-iterate what CharonY says and add that transfer of genetic material (plasmids) containing antibiotic resistance genes occurs between bacteria. This happens in the "natural world" but can also be utilised in research to select bacterial clones for experimental purposes when resistance can be deliberately conferred for said selection purposes.

You can also go to the State lab and talk to the microbiologist who work with the bugs. We in the Enterics section do NARMS testing for every 20 Salmonella we ID.

 

Edit to fix spelling.....

You can also go to the State lab and talk to the microbiologist who work with the bugs. We in the Enterics section do NARMS testing for every 20 Salmonella we ID.

 

Edit to fix spelling.....

true. Its a very good idea to get expert view, other than those you'll find on websites Like Typhi said, check out a local lab, and see what kind of stuff scientists know or even speculate about evasive/resistant bugs.

true. Its a very good idea to get expert view, other than those you'll find on websites Like Typhi said, check out a local lab, and see what kind of stuff scientists know or even speculate about evasive/resistant bugs.

what would an effective bacteria to use, and what type of antibiotic could I use. Also, how would I get these supplies?

I guess Staph. aureus or E.coli should both be ok to use, they are both pretty easy to culture. As for choice of antibiotic, it depends on how much money you have to spend. The older antibiotics, penicillin for example, are dirt cheap, but newer ones are far more expensive ( a course of methicillin is something like 2000x more expensive than metronidazole). Safety would also be an issue in choice of antibiotic - not a great idea to go messing around with things like vancomycin.

 

It should be easy to get hold of what you need from any major supplier, but the place you're at has probably got preferred suppliers.

 

If you want any information on modes of antibiotic action, just ask (or look in a pharmacology or medical microbiology textbook)

Many types antibiotics come in solid disc form. Instead of puting antibiotic on a disc, you can put the antibiotic right on the plate...It's not any more effective. But, experiment wise, it's an easier procedure. There are plenty of antibiotics you can use. Contact a researcher at a local lab (email is fine), and 10 bucks says he could tell the antibiotics which are best to use.

 

edit: come to think of it...I've done the exact same lab before, if you want I can dig up the protocol for you. Or did you want to design the experiment yourself?

the disc proceedure is realtively easy to prepare but sometimes the results might not be consistent. another method by incubate bacteria in broth and find out its % absorbance to construct its growth curve. then you could introduce different antibiotics and notice the effects on bacterial growth