How to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria?

[Eleanor023]

So, I’m working on artificial selecting for antibiotic resistance, and one of my responsibilities is to write my own lab protocol (it’s a smaller school so I’m the only one on it). Part of that is disposing of the bacteria after, and I really don’t want to become a biohazard. So… how should I kill it? We don’t have an autoclave or anything (again, small school).

[drstein2022]

Dear Eleanor,

Thanks for the question, glad to see you're considering safety precautions before you start experiments. Do you have access to a local hospital or healthcare facility? You may be able to dispose as a biohazard at either of those locations. To transport, make sure it is in a sealed container clearly labeled and bagged multiple times.

Best of luck!
Rebekah

[Eleanor023]

Yeah, right now I’m planning on double bagging inside of a Clorox container that I’ve marked as biohazard. There’s an urgent care down the street, but I’d still rather kill it first. I’m thinking straight ethanol or bleach.

[MadelineB]

Hi Eleanor,

One thought to add to the excellent suggestions by the expert ... I thinking the science fair judges will be impressed with a description of how you handle the bio-safety for your project! Best of luck at the fair!
Madeline

[brandimiller610]

Hi Eleanor,

I would like to add to the great advice given by the other experts. I think your idea of using ethanol or bleach will be sufficient for killing the bacteria before adding it to a biohazard container/bag. If you want to use ethanol, a 70% ethanol solution would be sufficient. If you want to use bleach, a 5% diluted bleach solution would be sufficient. Bleach is usually recommended if you are working with spore-forming bacteria; otherwise, you should stick to ethanol. Be sure to never mix bleach and ethanol!

Hope this helps! Good luck with your project!

--Brandi