Overview
Bioluminescently labeled E.coli (lab strain K12, 100µl / well at OD600nm of 0.5) were exposed to 10µl of dilutions of essential oils (in mineral oil) of clove, oregano, and thyme. This bioluminescence image was taken after 5.5 hours using an in vivo imaging system (IVIS50, Perkin Elmer). Photon emission (radiance) is scaled along a rainbow color scale and the processed false-color image was superimposed onto a black-and-white image of the 96 well plate.
OVERCOMING ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE WITH PLant-Based Antibiotic Compounds
In 2019, an estimated ~4.95 million deaths worldwide were associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR), of which ~1.27 million were directly attributable to bacterial AMR. Hence, additional antibiotics and alternative antimicrobial agents are urgently needed.
Plants contain on average 30-50 antibacterial compounds per plant. Our project seeks to identify those active against gastrointestinal pathogens, such as Salmonella, enteropathogenic E. coli and Vibrio cholerae. and test them, first in vitro and then in vivo in mouse models of GI infection.
The SOcial COnstruction of Science
BioRoom Presentation, December 8, 2020 (posted on YouTube on Mar 3, 2021)
The bodies of scientific knowledge we humans have accumulated over centuries and our scientific practices do not exist independently, but are highly influenced by history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, and politics. Two examples of this social construction are laid out here: the efforts to understand, diagnose, and treat cancer (frequently referred to as “The War on Cancer”), and our global challenge to stop the progression of the ‘Anthropocene’, a new geological age arising from cumulative human actions that have the unintended consequence of remaking the Earth’s geochemistry and causing the decline of its biosphere. We have solutions for these problems, but will we have the will to change and adopt these on a large scale?
SYSTEMS SCIENCE and ECOLOGICAL LIteracy
In preparation