1. Tracking the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance
SBI3C: Microbiology
Suganya Chandrakumar

2. What Microbe Are You?

3. Killer Microbe Before we start our activity…
In the 1940s, the first antibiotics was developed
However, resistance to antibiotics is one of the greatest challenges medicine faces today
E.g. Bacteria have adapted to nearly every antibiotic

4. Killer Microbe Eukaryotic organisms Prokaryotic organisms Lack nucleus
Have a nucleus
Most often the DNA floats freely in the cytoplasm
Many bacterial cells also have additional loops, Plasmid
Plasmids carry additional genes (some being antibiotic resistant)

5. Killer Microbe
This activity will focus on Conjugation

6. Antibiotic Resistance Activity!
You will each receive a paper bag that consists of 5 plasmids. (Do not reveal what’s inside your bag, or else we lose the objective of the activity!)
Paper bags represent bacterial cell; Green plasmids do not carry antibiotic resistance genes; Yellow plasmids do carry antibiotic resistance genes; arms/hands?
With the paper bags, (when I say go) you will physically move around the classroom to exchange your circles/plasmids with one another. The twist is you have to take a circle from another student’s bag without looking at it and place it in your own.
You are expected to do this 5 times.
Arms and hands?
Timer online
In the end we should all end with 5, no more no less because all you’re doing is exchanging

7. Antibiotic Resistance Activity!
After Round 1 of Exchange:
Predicted Number of Students with Yellow Circles
Number of Students without Yellow Circles
Number of Students with Yellow Circles
Tally of yellow circles per students
Before Round 1 Exchange
No answer required
After Round 1 Exchanges 1 2 3
4/more
Check for the discussion questions at this point

8. Antibiotic Resistance Activity!
Round 2:
And we will repeat the exchange one more time!
Predicted Number of Students with Yellow Circles
Number of Students without Yellow Circles
Number of Students with Yellow Circles
Tally of yellow circles per students
After Round 2 Exchanges 1 2 3
4/more

9. Antibiotic Resistance Activity!
Present students with possible discussion questions:
What is the trend of antibiotic resistance as seen in this simulation?
How do you predict “bacteria” with different numbers of yellow circles might react to repeated exposure to an antibiotic?
If you have an infection and your doctor prescribe an antibiotic, why is it important to complete the full day course of the medication, rather than to stop as soon as you start feeling better?

10. Antibiotic Resistance Activity!
Get the deets for the video

11. Thank You!