Help with Science Project

[BeThsnkful]

Hi,

For my science fair project I am going to be testing the Inhibition Potencies of Naturally Derived and synthetically manufactured antibiotics and seeing the effect it had on the gut microbiome.
I was wondering what type of BSL 1 gut bacteria I should use and how I should proceed with this project? Also what type of agars should I use or do I have to make my own?

[NehaK6]

Hi BeThsnkful,

What a cool project! I'm actually doing a biology research project currently, and I initially had the idea to do an experiment very similar to yours!

In regard to finding the right bacteria, I suggest you check out Carolina Biological's website (link: https://www.carolina.com/), Ward's Science (link: https://www.wardsci.com/store/), and/or Fisher Scientific (link: https://www.fishersci.com/us/en/home.html) to find bacterial cultures and agar plates that fit your needs. For both Carolina and Ward's, information like biosafety level, motility, morphology/shape, gram stain, respiration, optimal growth temperature, optimal growth medium, etc. are provided (for Ward's Science, you need to scroll down to the "Order" tab to see optimal growth temperature and media). I think a good bacterium you could use is E. Coli, as it's normally found in the gut and there are non-pathogenic strains (e.g. Escherichia coli strain HB101 K-12). The recommended agar will also be included on the webpage for all of the cultures, so you just need to make sure you're getting the one listed. And you don't have to make your own agar plates (unless you want to)! There are pre-poured plates available for Nutrient Agar, Tryptic Soy Agar, Blood Agar and many other types on all three of these sites, so you don't have to worry about pouring the agar yourself.

As you go through this process, please make sure you're looking at the safety restrictions and information provided and researching with the safety restrictions of your school or institution kept in mind. For example, the program at my school wouldn't allow us to cultivate bacteria that had an optimal growth temperature of 37°C (body temp.), so I had to make sure I was watching out for that as I looked for suitable cultures.

I hope this helped and let us know if you have any other questions!

Neha

[BeThsnkful]

Thank you! I was wonder if intestinal microflora would be a good option to test.

[NehaK6]

Yes, it would be a good idea to use intestinal microflora because you will be able to test the antibiotics on them and compare the results to the effect of antibiotics on our own gut. As I mentioned in my last post, E. Coli is a good type of gut flora to use, but if you're planning on using a different bacteria, make sure that it adheres to the safety regulations put in place by your teacher or school. I hope this helped and good luck with the rest of your project!

Neha

[deleted-946572]

You have a very interesting research project topic, which also interests me quite a lot