Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Comparison Of The Efficacy Of Newly-Synthesized Antimicrobial Polymers And A Preview Into Their Interaction With The Bacterial Cell Membrane., Kailey Christman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria present an obstacle for physicians and researchers. Over 35,000 people die annually in the U.S. from antibiotic-resistant infections each year. New antibiotics are being developed and studied, and natural products are screened to find potential new antibiotics. In this study, four polymer antibiotics with polyester backbones and peptide functional groups were studied with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus to determine the polymers’ efficacies on the different bacteria and compare the polymers to each other. Timed fluorescence microscopy experiments were performed to determine how long it takes the antibiotics to compromise the membrane integrity of fluorescently-labelled E. coli. …