Honors Theses

Advisor

Karolyn Hansen and Jayne Robinson

Department

Biology

Publication Date

4-26-2020

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Within recent years there have been a growing number of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Many of these strains produce biofilms, which are sturdy layers of bacteria on a surface. Biofilms often form layers on surfaces which can prevent typical antibiotic treatment methods from being effective. In recent years the novel porphyrin, Zinc Porphyrin (ZnPor), has been used at the University of Dayton to disrupt biofilms created by the bacterial species Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Experiments using ZnPor as a biofilm disruptor have successfully reduced the number of colonies present on multiple substrata (Patel). To further reduce biofilms presence on substrata surfaces the bacteriophage PEV2 was used prior to ZnPor treatment. This combination therapy was applied to biofilms formed on multiple substrata in a flow system to mimic Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathology in humans. Results showed that adding a bacteriophage to the treatment of biofilms significantly reduced biofilm presence.

Permission Statement

This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.

Keywords

Undergraduate research

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