Student Presenter(s): Jerry Qiu, Srinidhi Gadula, and Alex Hwang
Faculty Mentor: Bryan Gibb
School/College: Arts and Sciences, Old Westbury

Staphylococcus aureus, a prevalent strain of pathogenic bacteria, has been recognized as the second greatest contributor to global deaths from bacterial pathogens with approximately 119,000 cases of infection in the bloodstream and 20,000 deaths. Staphylococcus is one of the most prevalent bacterial infections in the world which is commonly found in the environment and in the nose and skin of humans. Antibiotic-resistant forms of S. aureus such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin resistant S. aureus (VRSA) are widespread in community-acquired and hospital-acquired infections, which are challenging to treat with traditional antibiotics. With the growth of antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, it is vital to find other forms of future treatment for infection. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and are often found in areas inhabited by the host bacterial species. As a result, bacteriophages offer a promising alternative treatment for treating challenging infections caused by S. aureus. During Fall 2022, students in a research class sampled bathrooms across NYIT in an effort to identify S. aureus strains and locations that could be used for bacteriophage isolation. Many bathrooms had putative S. aureus isolates, which are in the process of being sequenced, but the bathroom in Riland clinic had no isolated candidates. Our initial efforts to isolate bacteriophages from these sites proved unsuccessful, so we opted to isolate phages.