Microbiology Research Paper
Melissa Babajko
Microbiology 214BA
Dr. May
June 6, 2012
Staphylococcus aureus- Is a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive, salt positive, cocci shaped bacterium. Staphylococcus aureus is found as normal part of the skin floral in the nasal passages and on the skin. An estimated twenty percent of people naturally have harmless Staphylococcus aureus on their skin and are long-term carries for Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common strand of Staphylococcus in humans to date, spread through skin to skin contact or even skin to object contact that an a person infected with Staphylococcus aureus has touched. Staphylococcus aureus is coagulase positive, which induces clumping of the cells and of the blood. Staphylococcus aureus has many immune-evasive strategies that make it the most common strand, such as; it produces leukocidin a toxin that kills white blood cells. It also resists opsonization, survives in phagolysosomes, and is lysozyme resistant. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus, abbreviated MRSA, is one of a number of greatly feared strains of S. aureus, which have become resistant to most antibiotics. MRSA strains are most often found associated with institutions such as hospitals, but are becoming increasingly prevalent in community-acquired infections.
Research Study: IBM, the computer company, working on nanoparticles that polymerize into structures that are able to attack MRSA bacteria without harming the healthy tissue around it. Once these polymers come into contact with water in or on the body, they self assemble into a new polymer structure that is designed to target bacteria membranes based on electrostatic interaction and break through their cell membranes and walls. The physical nature of this action prevents bacteria from developing resistance to these nanoparticles or other antibiotics. The electric charge naturally found in cells is important because the new polymer structures are attracted only to the infected areas while
Microbiology 214BA
Dr. May
June 6, 2012
Staphylococcus aureus- Is a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive, salt positive, cocci shaped bacterium. Staphylococcus aureus is found as normal part of the skin floral in the nasal passages and on the skin. An estimated twenty percent of people naturally have harmless Staphylococcus aureus on their skin and are long-term carries for Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common strand of Staphylococcus in humans to date, spread through skin to skin contact or even skin to object contact that an a person infected with Staphylococcus aureus has touched. Staphylococcus aureus is coagulase positive, which induces clumping of the cells and of the blood. Staphylococcus aureus has many immune-evasive strategies that make it the most common strand, such as; it produces leukocidin a toxin that kills white blood cells. It also resists opsonization, survives in phagolysosomes, and is lysozyme resistant. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus, abbreviated MRSA, is one of a number of greatly feared strains of S. aureus, which have become resistant to most antibiotics. MRSA strains are most often found associated with institutions such as hospitals, but are becoming increasingly prevalent in community-acquired infections.
Research Study: IBM, the computer company, working on nanoparticles that polymerize into structures that are able to attack MRSA bacteria without harming the healthy tissue around it. Once these polymers come into contact with water in or on the body, they self assemble into a new polymer structure that is designed to target bacteria membranes based on electrostatic interaction and break through their cell membranes and walls. The physical nature of this action prevents bacteria from developing resistance to these nanoparticles or other antibiotics. The electric charge naturally found in cells is important because the new polymer structures are attracted only to the infected areas while