Scientists discover growing bacteria in its natural environment works
Boston scientists are using low-tech apparatus to work on hi-tech research into bacterial species cultivation, which they hope will lead to the discovery of more and better antibiotics.
Slava Epstein and his colleagues found one way to grow bacteria simply by giving them a comfortable space in which to thrive – like a pipette tip holder, Stat reports. Their company, NovoBiotic, is now testing the antibiotics produced by the bacteria and hope to put them in clinical trials soon.
Previously, scientists attempted to grow bacterial cultures on petri dishes, but only E. coli would survive and multiply. The rest would remain dormant, Stat reports.
Epstein teamed up with Tufts University’s microbiologist, Kim Lewis. Together they suspected that the microbes couldn’t grow in a lab environment, and instead tried to grow bacteria on surfaces it normally flourishes on. That change did the trick, according to Stat. Since then they’ve worked to develop small boxes – called iChips – with many individual wells that can cultivate large numbers of bacterial colonies – and antibiotics.
Read the full story at Stat.
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