Overview
Topic status: In progress
Brief project outline
Current assessment of environmental impact(s) of human activities in Antarctica includes study of marine ecosystem's responses to station wastewater discharges. As part of an integrated interdisciplinary study of the marine ecosystem near Davis Station (AUS) the faecal indicator bacterium Enterococcus spp. was presumptively enumerated and isolated from station-proximal and -distal waters and sediments. Assessment of likely sources of these organisms relies on further speciation and vancomycin antibiotic-resistance (Vr) determination. This project will identify these isolates respective species and Vr through standard antibiotic resistance profiling and discriminatory genotypic ID via DNA extraction and PCR.
Duration of project
Eight weeks, Dec 2011 to mid-Feb 2012
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scholarship
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Keywords
- Enterococcus spp, Antarctic, marine life, ecosystems, biogeoscience
- Contact
- Please contact supervisor for enquiries.
Dr James Smith
