Most people have an idea of what a scientist does: they use science to find answers to health problems or natural phenomena. What does a scientist really do? I wanted to know what a scientific career looks like, so when I heard that the Tiny Earth Project was looking for students like myself to discover new antibiotics from the soil, I jumped at the opportunity. Having finished my research, I’d like to share my story, so other students interested in science can learn what it’s like to be a scientist. If there’s one thing anyone interested in science should know, it’s that the majority of a scientist’s job is repeating what’s been done before. Sometimes, you need to repeat things because you need more data. For example, I had to repeatedly test my soil bacteria against different tester strains to see if they produced any antibiotics. If I observed a zone of inhibition, or a small clearing that separated my bacteria and tester strain, I could be confident that my bacteria produced antibiotics. When I didn’t observe a zone, there could’ve been many explanations: the bacteria didn’t grow properly, there was contamination, etc. To figure out the exact reason, I needed to repeat tests and if I got the same results, then I’d conclude that my bacteria weren’t effective against certain strains.

Other times, you need to repeat things because things didn’t work out as expected. For instance, I got conflicting results for one of my bacteria’s identity when I used genome sequencing, which involved copying and “reading” its DNA using sequencing technology. The first time, my bacteria had a 99% match with a strain of Streptomyces, so I was sure my bacteria was Streptomyces as well. When I repeated sequencing to confirm the results, however, I got a 99% match for Ralstonia, a completely different strain of bacteria. How could the same bacteria–the same DNA– give such different identities? It wasn’t that this bacteria was living a double life, but rather my professor accidentally tested a different bacteria’s DNA. After sequencing a third time, the bacteria had a 99% match for Streptomyces. Solving this mystery taught me that troubleshooting will always be crucial, even in the field of science.

Overall, my time working on the Tiny Earth Project showed me that while science can be
imperfect and repetitive, discovering new knowledge or cures never gets old.