Isolation chip

Last updated July 19, 2019

The Isolation chip (or ichip) is a method of culturing bacteria. Using regular methods, 99% of bacterial species are not able to be cultured as they do not grow in conditions made in a laboratory, a problem called the "Great Plate Count Anomaly".^[1] The ichip instead cultures bacterial species within its soil environment. The soil is diluted in molten agar and nutrients such that only a single cell, on average, grows in the ichip's small compartments or wells, hence the term "isolation". The chip is then enclosed in a semipermeable plastic membrane and buried back in the dirt to allow in nutrients not available in the lab.^[2] With this culturing method, about 50 to 60 percent of bacterial species are able to survive.^[2] Notably, the bacterial species Eleftheria terrae , which makes the antibiotic teixobactin that has shown promise against many drug-resistant strains like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was discovered using the ichip in 2015. In addition to antibiotics, it is argued that anti-cancer agents, anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressives (which have previously been discovered from bacteria) as well as potential energy sources could be discovered.^[1] The ichip was developed by the drug discovery company NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, founded by Kim Lewis and Slava Epstein.^[2]

Eleftheria terrae is a recently discovered Gram-negative bacterium. E. terrae is a temporary name for the organism, as it was only discovered Fall 2014 and is undergoing scientific study. Teixobactin, a new antibiotic, was found in this bacterium making it an important discovery. The discovery of E. terrae could represent a new age of antibiotics, as teixobactin is the first new antibiotic discovered since the synthetic era of the 1980s. Prior research has indicated that other uncultivable bacteria like E. terrae have potential in the development of new antimicrobial agents.

Teixobactin is a peptide-like secondary metabolite of some species of bacteria, that kills some gram-positive bacteria. It appears to belong to a new class of antibiotics, and harms bacteria by binding to lipid II and lipid III, important precursor molecules for forming the cell wall.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) refers to a group of gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. MRSA is any strain of S. aureus that has developed, through horizontal gene transfer and natural selection, multiple drug resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. β-lactam antibiotics are a broad spectrum group which includes some penams – penicillin derivatives such as methicillin and oxacillin, and cephems such as the cephalosporins. Strains unable to resist these antibiotics are classified as methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, or MSSA.

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An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria and is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections. Antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of such infections. They may either kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. A limited number of antibiotics also possess antiprotozoal activity. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses such as the common cold or influenza; drugs which inhibit viruses are termed antiviral drugs or antivirals rather than antibiotics.

Drug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a medication such as an antimicrobial or an antineoplastic in treating a disease or condition. The term is used in the context of resistance that pathogens or cancers have "acquired", that is, resistance has evolved. Antimicrobial resistance and antineoplastic resistance challenge clinical care and drive research. When an organism is resistant to more than one drug, it is said to be multidrug-resistant. The immune system of an organism is in essence a drug delivery system.

Streptomycin An antibiotic effective against various gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria

Streptomycin is an antibiotic used to treat a number of bacterial infections. This includes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium complex, endocarditis, brucellosis, Burkholderia infection, plague, tularemia, and rat bite fever. For active tuberculosis it is often given together with isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide. It is given by injection into a vein or muscle.

An agar plate is a Petri dish that contains agar as a solid growth medium plus nutrients, used to culture microorganisms. Sometimes selective compounds are added to influence growth, such as antibiotics.

The term broad-spectrum antibiotic can refer to an antibiotic that acts on the two major bacterial groups, gram-positive and gram-negative, or any antibiotic that acts against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. These medications are used when a bacterial infection is suspected but the group of bacteria is unknown or when infection with multiple groups of bacteria is suspected. This is in contrast to a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, which is effective against only a specific group of bacteria. Although powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics pose specific risks, particularly the disruption of native, normal bacteria and the development of antimicrobial resistance. An example of a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic is ampicillin.

A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture medium under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are foundational and basic diagnostic methods used extensively as a research tool in molecular biology.

A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid or semi-solid designed to support the growth of microorganisms or cells, or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens. Different types of media are used for growing different types of cells.

Antibiotic sensitivity or antibiotic susceptibility is the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics.

Dicloxacillin is a narrow-spectrum β-lactam antibiotic of the penicillin class. It is used to treat infections caused by susceptible (non-resistant) Gram-positive bacteria. It is active against beta-lactamase-producing organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus, which would otherwise be resistant to most penicillins. Dicloxacillin is available under a variety of trade names including Diclocil (BMS).

Emmett W. Chappelle is an African-American scientist who made valuable contributions in the fields of medicine, philanthropy, food science, and Astrochemistry. His achievements led to his induction into to the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on Bio-luminescence, in 2007. Being honored as one of the 100 most distinguished African American scientists of the 20th Century, he is also a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society of Photobiology, the American Society of Microbiology, and the American Society of Black Chemists.

The history of penicillin follows a number of observations and discoveries of apparent evidence of antibiotic activity in molds before the modern isolation of the chemical penicillin in 1928. There are anecdotes about ancient societies using molds to treat infections, and in the following centuries many people observed the inhibition of bacterial growth by various molds. However, it is unknown if the species involved were Penicillium species or if the antimicrobial substances produced were penicillin.

In microbiology, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is the lowest concentration of a chemical, usually a drug, which prevents visible growth of bacterium. MIC depends on the microorganism, the affected human being, and the antibiotic itself.

In microbiology, streaking is a technique used to isolate a pure strain from a single species of microorganism, often bacteria. Samples can then be taken from the resulting colonies and a microbiological culture can be grown on a new plate so that the organism can be identified, studied, or tested.

Medical microbiology , the large subset of microbiology that is applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, this field of science studies various clinical applications of microbes for the improvement of health. There are four kinds of microorganisms that cause infectious disease: bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, and one type of infectious protein called prion.

NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals is a privately held, early-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of new drugs from natural sources.

In microbiology, the term isolation refers to the separation of a strain from a natural, mixed population of living microbes, as present in the environment, for example in water or soil flora, or from living beings with skin flora, oral flora or gut flora, in order to identify the microbe(s) of interest. Historically, the laboratory techniques of isolation first developed in the field of bacteriology and parasitology, before those in virology during the 20th century. Methods of microbial isolation have drastically changed over the past 50 years, from a labor perspective with increasing mechanization, and in regard to the technology involved, and hence speed and accuracy.

ESKAPE is an acronym encompassing the names of six bacterial pathogens commonly associated with antimicrobial resistance: ESKAPE is an acronym for their names and a reference to their ability to escape the effects of commonly used antibiotics through evolutionarily developed mechanisms, and also because it is a acronym made from the first letters of their scientific names:

Malacidin class of chemicals made by bacteria

Malacidins are a class of chemicals made by bacteria found in soil that can kill Gram-positive bacteria. Their activity appears to be dependent on calcium. The discovery of malacidins was published in 2018.

References

1 2 "iChip: The future of antibiotic discovery". popsci.com. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
1 2 3 "The age of infection". foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 2 October 2015.

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[popsci-1] 1 2 "iChip: The future of antibiotic discovery". popsci.com. Retrieved 3 October 2015.

[fp-2] 1 2 3 "The age of infection". foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 2 October 2015.