Join Scripps Institution's Bill Fenical and learn how recent discoveries of antibiotic-producing Bacteria in the deep oceans suggest that the last remaining resource for new Antimicrobial drugs may well be the microorganisms that inhabit the oceans. (56 minutes)

The information, activities and assessments included in these curriculum modules aim to tell a story. This storyline will help students learn the basics of how populations of bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, and how that knowledge can help make sense of the phenomenon presented. Students will learn that local conditions and actions can have a significant impact on global issues. The activities with which students will engage constitute a meaningful pathway to understanding and are not intended to be used in isolation. As you make plans for how these modules will be used, carefully consider the connections and interdependence of the activities, which make it difficult to separate the activities and is not advised.Each module consists of two or three activities. Each activity provides opportunities to develop and use specific elements of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering skills and practice(s) to make sense of phenomena and/or to design solutions to problems. They also provide students with the chance to use conceptual understanding that spans scientific disciplines and develop deep understanding of core ideas and content.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Colitis and other diarrheal diseases cause serious health problems in dairy calves and are often managed by antibiotics. But heavy agricultural antibiotic use is a major driver of the global antibiotic resistance crisis, meaning there is a need for non-antibiotic therapeutics. One such potential therapeutic is ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) or its common formulation, ursodiol. UDCA is a bile acid with previously demonstrated effectiveness treating colitis but an unclear mechanism of action. In a multipronged study, researchers examined the microbiome and metabolic profiles of healthy and diarrheic calves and tested the impacts of UDCA and ursodiol in cell culture and mouse models. A core set of gut bacterial groups distinguished healthy calves from diarrheic ones and those beneficial groups were associated with microbial UDCA production, short-chain fatty acids, and other prebiotics. Further, in several cell culture and mouse models, ursodiol administration blocked bacterial growth and invasion..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.