Major: Biology
Presidential Scholars Advisor: Dr. Christopher Kelson
The resistance or susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus to penicillin in first-year students
Everyone has heard of Staphylococcus aureus before. It is commonly known from the skin infections that are caused (staph infection). Although these bacteria can be very harmful they are harmless most of the time. Staphylococcus aureus are bacteria that live on your skin. They are most commonly found in areas like your nose, chest, mouth, and palm. In past years, the bacteria are known to have built up a great resistance to antibiotics, which is a major problem in the medical field. My research project will be observing different colonies of bacteria from first-year students. I want to see if the resistance levels of the bacteria have anything to do with the environment. The samples will be separated by where the students are from geographically. The three groups will be defined as rural, suburban, and urban. First-year students will have the least amount of exposure to an environment other then their own. I expect that the students that are from different places geographically will have different resistance levels to penicillin.