Antibiotics Surface Microbiology Science Fair Projects

Medical Science Fair Projects

Medical science fair projects can take on several topics. One topic that you can explore is antibiotics and how they impact microorganisms. This is a great primer for more advanced projects.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this experiment was to determine how well various antibiotics would destroy bacteria.

I became interested in this idea when I was sick and wondered how thoroughly the antibiotic I was taking killed off bad bacteria cells.

The information gained from this experiment would allow the medical society to know which antibiotic kills bacteria best.

HYPOTHESIS

My hypothesis was that the antibiotic vancomycin would kill the bacteria most effectively.

I based my hypothesis on what lab technician Marie Clark said. She said that in her experience vancomycin has worked best for fighting off bacteria.

EXPERIMENT DESIGN

The constants in this study were:
-Amount of antibiotics
-Temperature
-Time kept in incubator
-Number of hours bacteria has to grow
-Grow bacteria in same type of container
-Exposure to same bacteria
-Same kind of pads
-Same amount of time the pads are soaked in the antibiotic

The manipulated variable was the type of antibiotic.

The responding variable was the amount of bacteria that grows.

To measure the responding variable I will measure the diameter of the death zone in millimeters with a caliper (ruler).

MATERIALS

PROCEDURES

1. Culture the hands of ten people (swab hands)
2. Roll swab on blood agar plate
3. Streak for inoculation
4. Incubate overnight
5. Identify the coag negative staph
6. Gram stain colonies
7. Perform Catalase test
a. Put the organism on a glass slide
b. Put a drop of hydrogen peroxide on the glass slide where the organism is
c. If the organism bubbles then it's the right type of bacteria
8. Perform Staphaurex test
a. Put a drop of staphaurex solution in the circle on the staphurex board
b. Mix in organism with a tooth pick
9. Perform Sensitivity test
a. Dilute organism in Saline
b. Swab organism on plate
c. Apply antibiotic
d. Incubate over night
10. Read sensitivity (measure zone produced)
11. Record and interpret the zone
12. Analyze the data
13. Autoclave everything

RESULTS

The original purpose of this experiment was to determine how well various antibiotics would destroy bacteria.

The results of the experiment were that all the antibiotics killed the bacteria very effectively. Specifically, the antibiotic cephalothin worked the best.

CONCLUSION

My hypothesis was that the antibiotic vancomycin would kill the bacteria most effectively.

The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected. The antibiotic vancomycin was the least effective antibiotic against coagulase negative staphylococcus.

Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if the antibiotics I used would work against a stronger type of bacteria.

If I were to conduct this project again I would try to get a more accurate measurement of the death zones and spread the bacteria more evenly on the Mueller Hinton plates. 3rd party contributor