TRAIN Scholar Justine Horton's Blog

Rsearch Paper Rough Draft Bacteria such as Staphylococcus Aureus, Staphylococcus Epidermis, and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa contribute to many hospital-related infections. Hospital-related infections can be particularly harmful to immunocompromised persons. Due to its known antimicrobial characteristics, manuka honey has been used in medical-grade honey to help fight such infections (Pleeging et al., 2020). However, these bacteria also have the ability to form a biofilm, which can make them harder to eliminate. In order to determine whether manuka honey affects biofilm-forming bacteria, we ran a growth response assay. The growth response assay determines the minimum inhibitory concentration of manuka honey (Hassan et al., 2011). The experiment's expected outcome is the demonstration of antimicrobial and anti-biofilm characteristics of Staphylococcus Aureus due to Manuka honey. The Manuka honey with the higher MGO concentration is expected to have a greater inhibitory factor. If the re...

Hi Everyone, I finally got in the lab this week. I am grinding to get all my work out of the way before I go on vacation. It looks like I'll be in the lab all week. I was finally able to plate my bacteria with honey. I did mess up twice on one plate and was ready to forget it, but I got it in the end. Aside from that, I also have to work on my organic chemistry knowledge. I need more confidence in that class, so I plan on studying extra.

Hi Everyone, Unfortunately, I had another week of uneventful lab work. Veterans Day threw my schedule off. I was disappointed in myself for not having much lab time. Next week, I really have to get stuff done. I'm hoping to have good results before Thanksgiving. On top of that, I'll be gone for most of Thanksgiving week, so I'm also trying to complete work for my other classes. I feel ickiest about organic chemistry class. The concepts are super complicated, and I wish I had better base knowledge. Because I didn't have much time in the lab, I could not get a picture of anything, so I enjoy a picture of the organic chemistry work I'm trying to decipher.

Hi Everyone, Unfortunatley, I've been sick the entire week, so I've choosen to stay out of the lab. I've used this time to work on keeping up with my Organic chemistry class and Critical thinking class. I've also used this time to further go over my project. I excited to jump back into the lab.Because I wasn't able to do any experimentation last week, I know I'm going to have to work double time to make up for lost time.

Staphylococcus aureus is considered one of the most prevalent pathogens in hospital-related infections. This strain of Staphylococcus are apart of the human microbiota, and they can contaminate medical instruments and implants and cause infections. (Chessa et al., 2016) Certain strains of Staphylococcus Aureus have gained the ability to resist the antibiotic methicillin. This strain is known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). (Kot et al., 2020) Due to the increased emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, finding new ways to combat these pathogens has become essential. Their ability to form biofilms makes each of these bacteria difficult. Biofilm formation is one of the leading contributors to antibiotic resistance and hospital-related infections. The biofilm allows bacteria to stick and multiply on medical instruments. Biofilms comprise extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), S. Epidermis, and S. Aureus biofilms, which are polysaccharides, amyloids, and pro...

Hi, everyone; this week has been quite busy in the lab. For the past few weeks, I've been repeating subculture due to not having enough time to do an experiment. This week, I finally had the time. I'll be completing a biofilm formation assay. It's extremely similar to what I did last year but with some tweaking. Outside of the lab, I've put my creative ideas to use for decorating for Halloween. I've also been putting some ideas to use for the robotics club and the Halloween ball. I'm super excited to see how everything will come out.