"Tiny Earth - A Research Guide to Studentsourcing Antibiotic Discovery (Revised Edition, 2022, print book plus full FlexEd Digital course access).
Tiny Earth is a network of instructors and students focused on crowd-sourcing antibiotic discovery from soil.
The challenges are huge...
Today we are fighting a shortage of effective antibiotics as ""superbugs"" evolve resistance to our most-used antibiotics. Simultaneously, we face a shortage of science trainees as unengaging introductory science courses fail to retain some of the best and brightest students in STEM fields.
But the solutions start tiny...
Unearthing new antibiotic-producing microbes from the soil can address a worldwide health threat while inspiring students to pursue careers in science.
Tiny Earth brings the potential for global impact through original laboratory and field research conducted in introductory courses.
Tiny Earth is a network of instructors and students focused on crowdsourcing antibiotic discovery from soil.
The mission of the program is two-fold:
First, it seeks to inspire students to pursue careers in science through original laboratory and field research conducted in introductory courses with the potential for global impact.
Second, it aims to address a worldwide health threat—the diminishing supply of effective antibiotics—by tapping into the collective power of many student researchers concurrently tackling the same challenge, living up to its motto ""studentsourcing antibiotic discovery."""
Introduction
How to Use This Research Guide
Lab Safety and Best Practices
General Lab Safety and Etiquette
American Society for Microbiology Guidelines for Biosafety
Tiny Earth Nonnegotiable Safety Rules
Aseptic Technique
Recordkeeping
Labeling
Section 1: Living on a Bacterial Planet
Experiment 1: Devise a method to transfer microbes from a soil sample to a medium in the lab
Section 2: More Than Just “Dirt”
Experiment 2: Find a local soil environment you wish to sample
Section 3: Redefining “Growth” and “Culture”
Experiment 3: Find a method to isolate single colonies of bacteria from your soil sample.
Section 4: Bacteria Are What They Eat, Too
Experiment 4: Choose your own media and culture conditions
Section 5: Solid Versus Liquid Cultures
Experiment 5: Isolate unique colonies to test for antibiotic production
Section 6: Meet the ESKAPE Pathogens
Experiment 6: Understand the significance of the ESKAPE pathogens and using safe relatives in the lab
Section 7: Antibiotics’ Discovery, Structure & Targets
Experiment 7: Design a method to screen for antibiotic producers
Section 8: Getting to Know Your Isolates
Experiment 8: Initial identification of antibiotic-producing isolate
Section 9: It All Comes Down to Chemistry
Experiment 9: Testing isolate’s organic extract for antibiotic activity
Section 10: Resisting Antibiotics
Experiment 10: Testing isolateRs resistance to common antibiotics
Section 11: “Classic” versus “Modern”
Experiment 11: Biochemical characteri6ation of isolates
Section 12: Bacteria in Context
Experiment 12: Assess activity against eukaryotes, potential use as biological control, and ecological relationships with other organisms
Concluding Remarks
Part II: Research Protocols
