College students throughout Minnesota have become partners in the One Health approach to address antibiotic resistance through two national educational programs that empower instructors to embed a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in their courses.

In the Tufts University – PARE: Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment program, students sample local soil and determine the percentage of culturable bacteria that exhibit resistance.

In the Tiny Earth: Studentsourcing Antibiotic Discovery program, students culture microbes from local soil and screen them for antibiotic production, with the scientific goal of funneling newly discovered microbes into the drug discovery pipeline. While the scientific work being accomplished by these armies of students is significant, perhaps more impactful is their newfound appreciation for the crisis that antibiotic resistance presents to humans, animals and the environment. Students leave their courses as ambassadors for antibiotic stewardship and scientific research.

At the University of St. Thomas (UST), over 300 students participate in the PARE project annually when they enroll in their introductory biology course. Even this early in their education, they are conducting authentic research and communicating it through preparation of a scientific poster, with the option of presenting at a campus-wide research symposium. Additionally, the Tiny Earth research flow is embedded in introductory through advanced microbiology courses taught by the UST Biology Department and taken by a variety of students, including many who re majoring in nursing, pre-health, and biology. Some students continue the research they begin in the course through mentored independent research and achieve great success. You will find them presenting their results at regional and national conferences, and several student-sourced isolates have entered the drug discovery pipeline.

The opportunity to work with students at UST to address such a pressing issue by digging for answers is truly a privilege, yet I would be remiss to neglect pointing out that this important work is being pursued throughout the state, with trained Tiny Earth partner instructors working at Hamline University, St. Catherine University, Crown College, Century College and Bethel University, as well as around the nation and globally.

Now – as we say in the lab - keep calm and research on!

Learn more about UST research:
Digging for Answers: Microbiology Research Tackles Antibiotic Resistance

Proper Medication Disposal: Don’t Flush Medicines Down the Drain!

Disposing of old or unwanted human and veterinary medications in a medication drop box is an important way to prevent environmental contamination. If flushed down the toilet or drain, these pharmaceuticals can contaminate our lakes and streams, which can hurt fish and other wildlife, as well as end up in our drinking water. There are over 300 free medication collection boxes around Minnesota that are located at law enforcement facilities and pharmacies. For locations and more information, visit Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: Don't flush medicines down the drain.

Irene Bueno Padilla, DVM, MPH, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota

What is your professional experience with antibiotic resistance?

For my PhD, I studied the role of point sources on the dissemination [spread] of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Now, as a postdoctoral scientist, I am working on a project to map the environmental presence of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in Minnesota. As a clinical veterinarian, I've seen cases where treatments failed due to antibiotic resistance.

How has antibiotic resistance or antibiotic use affected your work?

Through my research, we are trying to advance our understanding of how antibiotics and antibiotic resistance disseminate into the natural environment, how to attribute what we find to specific sources, and what the risks are to human and animal health.

What would you like to know more about in regard to antimicrobial resistance and/or antibiotic use?

In order to understand and map antibiotic use and resistance for the state of Minnesota so that we can ultimately establish mitigation strategies in environmental hotspot areas, it would be great to have representative quantitative data on antibiotic use in humans and all animal species.

E) All of the above

Human activity that contaminates the environment can speed up the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Learn more about how antimicrobial resistance can spread through the environment and in agriculture:

CDC: Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment and the Food Supply: Causes and How It Spreads

MDH: Antibiotics and the Environment: What You Should Know (PDF)