Using the effects of antibiotics on bacterial growth to demonstrate pharmaceutical concepts

CHED 447

Kirsten M. Kahler and Aimee L. Miller, aimee.miller@millersville.edu. Department of Chemistry, Millersville University, P.O. Box 1002, Millersville, PA 17551
The pharmaceutical field is constantly expanding, and many biochemists pursue related careers. We developed a lab that explores pharmacology concepts, including dose response and drug resistance. Dose response was tested by introducing different amounts of carbenicillin to E. coli and analyzing bacterial growth using a halo test. Students will use the diameter of the halos to generate a dose response curve. We developed a second study of the ability of an ampicillin resistance gene (ApR) to restore E. coli growth in the presence of antibiotics in different antibiotic classes with varying chemical structures. The E.coli were transformed with a plasmid (pRS313) that carries a copy of the ampicillin resistance gene. The effect of two antibiotics, carbenicillin and G418, were tested against E. coli with the ampicillin resistance gene. Experimental data confirmed the predicted effects of carbenicillin and G418 on E. coli growth.