Reagan Doner, student in the East Tennessee State University Department of Biomedical Health Sciences, has received a Summer Research Fellowship to study the Appalachian Microbiome with Dr. Sean Fox, lecturer in the department. The Summer Research Fellowships are designed to support an immersive scholarly activity/original research experience during the summer for undergraduate students working with a faculty mentor. The fellowship is intended to create an opportunity for significant progress on a scholarly activity.
"Reagan will be characterizing about a dozen antimicrobials we have discovered from the Appalachian Microbiome Project,” said Dr. Fox. “This may identify important antibiotics, bacteriocins, or other antimicrobials that are necessary for combating antimicrobial resistant bacteria."
Dr. Fox’s team is attempting to create a microbial “map” of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains to identify the unique microbial species found in our region. It is a collaboration with Johnson City Parks & Recreation which are the custodians of Buffalo Mountain, which the team is using as training grounds for undergraduate and graduate research students.
Additional projects will bring a health focus and identify the “resistome” of the microorganisms here. This will aid in understanding the antibiotic resistance potential in this region as it is a favorite place for the community to participate in outdoor recreation. The team hopes to identify potential microorganisms that could contribute to human infection and their resistance to current treatments. These projects will include geoprospecting for unique microbial properties. The team has already identified numerous microorganisms native to the Appalachian mountains that possess the ability to bioremediate “clean up” harmful waste, make important products for plant health, and dozens of microorganisms that produce antimicrobials.
Finally, the team will take their findings and use AI to predict how different microbes work together or against each other to shape the biome. This process could help predict future outbreaks or identify invasive microbes have hold. When natural events like fires occur, this process can show information on what a healthy biome is so it can be restored.