Week #11 4/12-4/18

Wait a second, what happened? I blinked and another week went by. I literally think I have a passed through some sort of worm hole. How did we get to Thursday again? Well, let's start off the blog with what I enjoyed the most of the Desert Botanical Gardens:

I also had a chance to snap a shot of Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa). If you remember, I tested the plant last week for its antimicrobial properties and this week I have the results!

Although the plant didn't have an effect on Escherichia coli, it did have an 8 mm zone of inhibition on Staphylococcus aureus. This is terrific news. You have to keep in mind, my experiment has certain limitations due to our lab equipment. For example, I do not know what concentration of the plant I am extracting and applying to the Kirby Bauer disks; however, we are in the beginning stages of this experiment and I envision this one to be expanded upon because the results I am getting are spectacular! Below, I saved a picture for you of its effect on Staphylococcus aureus:

I am definitely discovering a new found respect at labeling every specimen with your initials  date, specimen, and bacteria.  At the beginning of the experiment, I was looking at one sample a day. This past week, I looked at over 20 samples. Could you imagine how difficult it would be to track every specimen without proper labeling? Thank you Dr. Cotter for teaching me this small yet important aspect of lawn cultures. 

I do have some unfortunate news to share with you on horseradish (Armoracia rusticana). What at first seemed like a zone of inhibition of 11 mm on Escherichia coli, turned out to be 0 mm. If you remember, I didn't get any results by using a 70% ethanol extract with this root, so we used acetic acid instead. I was excited to see the 11 mm zone; however, I later discovered that acetic acid by itself had a similar zone. This may seem confusing at first; however, if we use acetic acid as the control, we can determine that horseradish alone didn't have any antimicrobial properties. 

On that same note, we also discovered that my 70% ethanol extract is a viable method because I also used 70% ethanol as a control. We were concerned that perhaps my disks were not drying efficiently at that I was observing zones of inhibition because of the 70% ethanol extract; nevertheless, I also used it as a control and my disks with the 70% ethanol extract had 0 mm. This is GREAT news. This means that when I do have a zone of inhibition, I am extracting antimicrobial properties from the specimen and the ethanol is not adding to the effect of the specimen. Confused yet? I was a little at first too.

Let me not forget Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua). It also had a zone of inhibition of 7mm on Staphylococcus aureus but didn't have an effect on Escherichia coli. Perhaps my hypothesis that gram positive bacteria are easier to kill than gram negative is a good start? Why would that be Dr. Cotter? Look for yourself:

Today, I tested my last three specimens before our Estrella Mountain conference. I will see the results tomorrow and let you know next week the data from each. By the way, over the course of the next three weeks, I have two conferences, finals, and other obligations both with and outside of Phoenix College; so, I will not be available by Blog, Phone, FB, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, nor texting. Thank you for your support and understanding! :-) 

P.S. I had to use the larger Mueller Hinton plates because mine went missing AGAIN! 

CHEERS AND CARPE DIEM! (About 630 words, sorry D.!)