Preparing for DC

Hello there!

I am beginning to prepare my presentation for the ASM conferencein Washington, D.C. Here is a sample of one of one graph I will be talkingabout.

 

Here, I inoculated sets of cockroaches with Francisella and then fed themantibiotics via a sucrose solution post-infection. Interestingly, we found thatdoxycycline is effective at rescuing the roaches from francisellosis. However, streptomycin,a common antibiotic given to patients suffering from tularemia, was noteffective when administered orally. Because streptomycin is given intramuscularly through injections, this further validates our roach model foranalysis of drug therapies.

Also, we see that after administration of ciprofloxacin wasstopped on day 4, survival of the roaches declined. This tells usthat this antibiotic is bacteriostatic—it prevents the bacterium from growingand reproducing, but doesn’t necessarily kill the cells. Therefore, infection is able to persists after the pressure of the antibiotic has been removed.

Thank you so much again for all of your continuoussupport as I move forward with this project!

Bridget

 

For your enjoyment: Image of oral administration of antibiotic solution to cockroach.