Synergistic Effects Between Antibiotics and Antimicrobial peptides to combat Antibiotic Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

For three semesters during my undergraduate education, I participated as an undergraduate member at a microbiological research lab. I worked in Dr. Di’s lab in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. In this position, I worked under a graduate student and assisted in researching solutions for antibiotic resistance in ESKAPE pathogens, which are a group of pathogens that are extremely resistant to antibiotics and pose a great clinic threat. This included wet lab work, such as microbial assays, as well as data analysis. I  completed my own research project related to the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the synergistic effect of antimicrobial drugs and antimicrobial peptides. The overall purpose of the research project was to learn if antimicrobial peptides can aid antibiotics in clearing bacterial infections. This would reduce the severity of infection, as well as potentially lower the dosage of antibiotics required, which at high doses can be injurious to health. I received academic credit for 2 out of the 3 semesters I worked in the lab, presenting a poster for the first semester and writing a research paper for the last semester.

Overall, this experience was meaningful to me because it allowed me to apply the concepts that I was learning in my microbiology classes. It was also nice to be contributing to a real research project that could have positive effects on the world.  Working through challenges in the process and troubleshooting also helped me gain important skills in critical thinking, time management, and problem-solving. Additionally, although I had my own research project, I spent most of the time in the lab with other undergraduates. Since all of our projects were related, we were able to bounce ideas off of one another, share advice, and help each other solve problems. This was a great experience of working in a team and sharing space and I learned much from this collaborative aspect of the research.

While the act of researching itself was hard science-based, the implications of the research related to my Global Studies Certificate of Health and Wellness. Infectious diseases can be deadly and in a post-industrial society like the United States, hospital-acquired infections pose a real problem. In the Introduction to Epidemiology class that I am taking for the certificate, we talked about the devastating effects that antibiotic resistance can have on vulnerable populations. This problem needs to be solved and I am happy that I was able to have the experience of working in a lab aiming to combat this issue.