FEBRUARY 10, 2025 — Undergraduates at UTSA are tackling the growing antibiotic resistance crisis as part of a microbiology course studying soil samples.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes antimicrobial resistance as “one of the world's most urgent public health problems.” It occurs as pathogens develop defense mechanisms against common antibiotic medications.
According to the World Health Organization, the process is driven by misuse and overuse of antibiotic drugs. Meanwhile, the development of new, more effective antibiotics has not kept pace with rising resistance levels, leaving a growing number of bacterial infections untreatable.
A recently developed interdisciplinary project called Place-Based Soil Data Interpretation and Research in Texas (PBS-DIRT), funded by a $395,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is providing UTSA students the opportunity to help find solutions.
“Over 60% of clinically used antibiotics come from soil bacteria, but as soil erodes, so does the opportunity to discover new antibiotics,” said Sara Shields-Menard, assistant professor of instruction of molecular microbiology and immunology. “Soil also contains microbes that influence environmental and human health. Research can reveal ways to prevent the spread of harmful pathogens or monitoring environmental conditions.”
Students participating in the module are collecting soil samples in the San Antonio area and analyzing soil data to potentially find new antibiotics. They will contribute their findings to a global database managed by the Tiny Earth Initiative, an organization that supports student research in pursuit of more effective antibiotics.
“I realized how much there is left to understand,” said Elizabeth Negron, UTSA microbiology and immunology student. “I think being able to understand pathogens before they become pandemics is very significant, and that’s something I’d like to be part of personally.”
So far, UTSA students have isolated bacteria with interesting pigments and found that certain soil bacteria can slow or prevent the growth of bacteria that are tough to treat.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Students, faculty and staff are invited to join UTSA's delegation at the annual César E. Chávez March for Justice in downtown San Antonio. Free transportation will be provided from the Main and Downtown Campuses, and all university community participants will receive a complimentary commemorative t-shirt (while supplies last)
1310 Guadalupe Street, San Antonio, TexasJoin UTSA Libraries and Museums to learn more about the publishing discounts available for UTSA researchers.
Virtual Event (Zoom)PubMed is an essential database for anyone conducting biomedical or health-related research. This workshop will teach attendees how to effectively navigate this free resource and locate peer-reviewed articles using advanced search features, MeSH subject headings, and Boolean operators.
Virtual Event (Zoom)Join us for a hands-on workshop about the basics of copyright, both in education and as a researcher. We’ll dispel some common copyright myths, differences between copyright law and other intellectual property law, and teach you how to apply a Fair Use checklist to your scholarly work.
Virtual Event (Zoom)In this workshop, we will explore sentiment analysis, a method for identifying feelings in text, whether the tone is positive, negative, or neutral.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryThe Urban Bird Project at UTSA will discuss urban bird populations, conservation efforts, and how you can get involved.
JPL Assembly Room (4.04.22,) Main CampusLearn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual Event ( Zoom)The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
