Though one of the most common methods for reproducing plants, propagation through seeds is often not feasible because of a consistently low germination percentage. Instead, this project aims to study the viability of using Phaseolus vulgaris (known as the common bean) as a model organism in antibiotic resistance studies. Specifically, this project seeks to investigate the effectiveness of external antibiotics in promoting the growth and differentiation of common bean callus growth. The single experimental group encapsulates bean callus growth medium with added cefotaxime, streptomycin, and kanamycin which are grown in standard growth medium with the addition of these antibiotics. The control group compares green bean callus growth in standard medium. To further evaluate the morphological differences between various mediums, a measure of the dry mass of the callus along with the study of its mitotic index was used to determine the effectiveness of each antibiotic reagent in improving the growth of the callus. Ultimately, the results refute the original hypothesis which predicted that all four antibiotics would have a positive benefit on growth and regeneration of the callus tissue. Rather, when measuring callus health, only kanamycin had a significant effect (Mann-Whitney U = 3.5, p-value = 0.0385) on the growth factors of the callus tissue through its high mitotic index. Future research may apply these findings to focus on computational aspects in studying the effect kanamycin has on somatic embryogenesis via callus growth in an effort to inhibit bacterial growth which reduces the chance of infection in the callus. By utilizing kanamycin resistance as a selectable marker, researchers can easily identify and select transformed plants taken up by foreign DNA and further simplify the study of genetically modified plant species, which has significant implications for the future of agricultural production.

Purell kills 99.99% of the most common germs which cause illnesses. This means that 0.01% of bacteria still remains on the skin surfaces of the organism. Optimal bactericidal efficacy is at 60-90% concentration as even pure alcohol is less bactericidal. Purell consists of ethanol which proves to be most effective in virucidal activity. Adding aqueous solution to ethanol solutions can increase its efficacy against viruses that are more resistant to ethanol alone. However, it is well known that hand sanitizers are ineffective against non-developed viruses. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are very effective for quickly destroying many pathogens through aqueous alcohol solutions. This study tests the effectiveness of alcohol-based sanitizer concentrations on specific types of epidermal bacteria. This experiments alcohol-based sanitizer concentrations on two types of epidermal floras, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli B. To test this hypothesis, a two-part procedure was conducted using the Kirby-Bauer method. Low, high, and optimal concentration solutions are formulated as the experimental group while the control group is a pure aqueous solution. Using sterile technique, cultures of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli B were dispensed onto Petri dishes and tested with each different concentration type. The results of Escherichia coli B disproved the hypothesis as high concentration levels were most effective in regulating its presence while Staphylococcus epidermis modulated best under optimal concentrations. This considers the effectiveness of sanitizer on bacteria that remains on the epidermis even after Purell is applied and can display how concentration modifications affect the growth of bacteria.