Expert: Walter Hintz - 7/27/2006

Question
hi thanks for your reply
i went and spoke to a lab assistant at my school to ask if she could order in some manufactured antibiotics for my experiment, i mentioned streptomycin, however, she said this was not allowed. so i was wondering if you knew of any other manufactured antibiotics which were not so strong or dangerous and could be used in the classroom but still had a significant effect on the bacteria. so far i am using ampicillin but i need three more.
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Followup To

Question -
i am creating my own experiment for biology and i have decided to test manufactured antibiotics against natural antibiotics. The bacteria chosen to carry this out is e.coli and s.albus, which will be ordered in by my school. however, i am having difficulty in deciding which manufactured antibiotics i could use which would be effective. i am also hypothesising that the manufactured antibiotics would be more successful in killing bacteria, is this a correct hypothesis to be making?

Answer -
Hi sukh
Your hypothesis seems like a good one.  I would be interested in hearing about your experimental design.  For example; what media are you using and what do you consider natural antibiotics.  As to the manufactured antibiotics I suggest that you investigate the sensitivity discs available from most biology supply houses. You can get discs for almost every antibiotic. The penicillins will work well with the staph albus and probably streptomycin with the gram negative e coli.  If you have a college biology department or hospital lab nearby perhaps they will give you some.  Tell me more about this study.

Answer
Hi sukh;
You do not need a large supply of antibiotics.  All you need are sensitivity discs and they pose no danger. You can find some at Fisherscientific.com.  They will charge 7 or 8 dollars for a vial but you only need a few of each. Check out my suggestion and see it you cannot bum a few from a hospital lab. Are you in a college class or a high school class?
You have a penicillin See if you can get terramycin.tetracycline, and erythromycin