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ENST Faculty, Students Earn Three Prizes at UM's Gemstone Citation Ceremony

ENST Wins Big at Gemstone Competition   

When the Department ofEnvironmental Science and Technology (ENST) faculty partnered with UMGemstone students to complete a thesis on antibiotic resistance inMaryland’s wetlands, they did it for research purposes. Now, thatpartnership has earned them three awards and recognition at the recentGemstone Citation Ceremony, which took place on Wednesday, May 21, 2008.

 

Dubbed“Team CRABS” - which stands for Characterizing Resistance toAntibiotics of Bacterial Samples – the group of faculty and studentsearned the Outstanding Gemstone Team Thesis award recognized thequality of their overall research. Additionally, Team CRABS members wonindividual awards – Robert Vocke III, aerospace engineering major, andNeil Agarwal, biochemistry/mathematics major, won the Outstanding TeamScholar award, and Dr. David Tilley, Associate Professor in ENST, wonthe Outstanding Gemstone Mentor award for his work with Team CRABS.

“Beinga member of Team CRABS is one of the most meaningful experiences that Iam taking away from college. I learned many things that are not taughtin conventional courses, such as practical leadership and timemanagement skills,” says Matthew Shofnos, a student member of TeamCRABS. “More than anything, I will use the interpersonal andorganizational skills that I learned through Gemstone as I continue tomature professionally.”

Through a grant from the MarylandDepartment of Environment, CRABS' research team investigated antibioticresistance in Maryland’s mitigation wetlands, and assessed whether thesurrounding land use or wetland health affected the level of antibioticresistance.

“Team CRABS collected data on land use, surface andsub-surface water quality, soil characteristics, and vegetationdiversity and abundance at 13 wetlands located across Maryland, fromCumberland to Ocean City,” explains Dr. Tilley. “The Team found thatevery wetland possessed resistant bacteria and that every antibiotic,except for ciprofloxacin, was resisted by some bacteria.” For example,the Team found that 70% of bacteria were resistant to ampicillin, whichwas higher than previous research had found for hospitals.

TeamCRABS also determined that the wetlands were as healthy as naturalwetlands based on a combination of soil, vegetation and water qualitycharacteristics. Additionally, they found that the surrounding land useof the wetlands influenced the antibiotic resistance of the bacteria inthe wetlands. Most notably, however, was their discovery that wetlandswith less well-developed soils (i.e., less carbon and nitrogen)exhibited more resistance to tetracycline, indicating that soil qualityplays a probable role in fostering or fighting antibiotic resistance.Their study demonstrated that antibiotic resistance is present inMaryland's wetlands, but that its ability to spread could be inhibitedby healthy wetlands.

Team CRABS consists of a diverse group of students majoring in a number of fields:

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Last updated: 03/9/2009