Date of Submission

Spring 2017

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Biology

Project Advisor 1

Gabriel Perron

Abstract/Artist's Statement

The development of antibiotic resistance has become a rapidly emerging threat to human health globally. Throughout the 20th century, the use of antibiotics transformed modern medicine by allowing for the treatment of bacterial infections. Shortly after the introduction of antibiotics, resistant strains became apparent. Since then, resistance has been developed for the majority of all clinical antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an important pathogenic bacterium, has gained resistance against multiple antibiotics. In the United States, approximately 400 deaths a year are attributed to P. aeruginosa infections. Understanding the optimal environments for this bacterium to grow and thrive is vital in determining factors that contribute to its virulence. In this study, we have analyzed the effects of temperature on the growth promotion and antibiotic responses of 92 P. aeruginosa strains isolated from various niches, including the environment, animals, clinical infections, and chronic infections. The select temperatures of 23oC (room), 37oC (body), and 42oC (fever) proved to have an impact on the growth of isolates, in regards to the measurements of Vmax and carrying capacity, while also influencing shifts in sensitive, intermediate, or resistant patterns and minimal inhibitory concentrations to the clinical antibiotic ciprofloxacin. As the threat of antibiotic resistance becomes more prevalent, research dedicated to discovering key factors that promote or reduce a pathogen’s survival is not only relevant, but essential to human health.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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