Presenter: Autumn Kelsch
Authors: Autumn Kelsch
Faculty Advisor: Jessica Habashi
Institution: Utah State University
Biology 2060 (Elementary Microbiology) is a prerequisite for many nursing, dental, and veterinary programs; thus, students in the course are typically pre-health majors that plan on applying to higher graduate or professional programs. However, the labs that are currently used in this course are “cookbook” labs in which the procedures are designed to yield expected results. This approach is suitable for some techniques such as Gram staining so that students can learn to master basic skills, but it leaves students with no appreciation for the scientific process. Recent initiatives from the National Science Foundation and National Research Council are in favor of developing open-ended inquiry-based labs. In this project, determination of the identification of a soil microbe is the ultimate goal along with testing for antimicrobial resistance.According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “at least 700,000 people die each year due to drug-resistant diseases, including 230,000 people who die from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.” It is estimated that by 2050 those deaths will reach 10 million, surpassing heart disease which was the leading cause of death in 2020 according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increasing incidence of severe infections, and increased drug resistance to treatment options, has been highlighted as a particular risk to human health by World Health Organization, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” By developing a lab that can replicate testing via students under supervision of lab instructors, we may help to contribute to the efforts of discovering a treatment of these superbugs via microbial antagonism. At the very least, this will be an important addition to the unit on antimicrobial drugs and drug discovery, and help solidify concepts learned in lecture.