Could the world famous Roman Baths help scientists counter the challenge of antibiotic ... - 0 views
www.sciencedaily.com/...240531122536.htm
microbiology archea challenge resistance antibiotic HSR HSR-2025 science environmental questions biology potential research idea
shared by Sean Nash on 06 Jun 24
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Proteobacteria and Firmicutes
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Sean Nash on 06 Jun 24If we were able to sample various springs/baths in the midwest could we even culture strains like this, and then what would it take to identify them? You could compare that perhaps to total colony counts on Petri dishes.
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a detailed examination of the bacterial and archaeal communities found within the waters of the popular tourist attraction in the city of Bath
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The Elms is a famous springwater bath locale here in Excelsior Springs, Missouri less than an hour away. Eureka Springs, Arkansas is another area nearby off the top of my head. This also has me asking general questions about other bathing scenarios that would not likely feature ancient microbes, like hot tubs, swimming pools, etc. I wonder about ALL of the variables that go into the conditions of these baths and how that might correlate to total numbers of bacteria as well as differing types. There isn't a TON of microbiology that we can do in the high school lab without help, but I do know that we are generally permitted to work with environmentally-found bacteria (like the little lab we did in the Addie unit).
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Scientists collected samples of water, sediment and biofilm from locations within the Roman Baths complex including the King's Spring (where the waters reach around 45°C) and the Great Bath, where the temperatures are closer to 30°C.
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This means they collected from the water column itself, but also biofilms (which would be found along the edges of containments walls, etc... in addition to sediment found at the bottom of natural spring sources.
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The samples were then analysed using cutting edge sequencing technology and traditional culturing techniques were employed to isolate bacteria with antibiotic activity.
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This obviously would require a significant bit of outside help. However, I'm still not sure we couldn't do more basic work that would be meaningful.
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