Educator Guide: New Rules for Finding Antibiotics

MAKE WAY An antimicrobial (mostly green and white in this illustration) that has been modified to target gram-negative bacteria travels through a channel (brown) on its way inside an E. coli cell.
M.F. RICHTER ET AL/NATURE 2017
About this guide
The article “New ‘rules’ for finding antibiotics” proposes a new strategy for designing antibiotics for gram-negative bacteria. Students can focus on details reported in the article, follow connections to earlier articles about drug-resistant bacteria and antibiotics, and explore cross-curricular connections to other major science topics. In a related activity, students can test how susceptible yogurt bacteria are to antibiotics and determine whether the bacteria are gram-positive or gram-negative.
This Guide Includes:
A look back at antibiotics
Our ongoing battle with bacteria
How is yogurt made?
Sign up if you’re interested in receiving free Science News magazines plus educator resources next school year. The Society for Science’s Science News Learning program serves nearly 6,000 public high schools across the United States and worldwide.