Image: A plate containing bacteria with and without a plasmid containing a fluorescence gene.
With the widespread rise of antimicrobial resistance, the use of alternative techniques to combat it are needed more than ever before–we hope to address these needs by the means of plasmid curing. Antimicrobial resistance genes are commonly found on plasmids. Plasmids are small self-replicating chromosomes that are capable of being transferred from one bacterium to another. By eliminating (or curing) plasmids from pathogenic bacteria, it may be possible to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes. The Walk lab is currently screening a number of natural products for their capacity to cure plasmids from disease-causing bacteria. Furthermore, we are developing a new assay to screen for plasmid-curing using real-time PCR that is capable of higher throughput and more precise quantitation than traditional techniques.