Locklyn Raye Ward
8th Grade, Grove Middle School
Grove, OK
A Study of Open Field Plants, Native and Non-Native, and Their Antimicrobial Properties Against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis
Working on her family farm, Locklyn learned that some plants could have health benefits. She tested 24 plants for antibiotic activity. She compared plant extracts to commercial antibiotics, measuring how well they cleared bacteria, and showed that 56 percent of the plants had some antibiotic activity.
View Poster
Project Background
Locklyn’s family has a farm in Oklahoma. “As we were feeding cows one evening we drove by what I thought were weeds, and my Dad said it was pokeweed growing wild,” she says. “He said he had always heard it was healthy in many ways.” Locklyn is worried about overuse of antibiotics and began to wonder if some of the plants growing wild on the farm might have antibiotic properties, and how the antibiotic properties in the plants compared to antibiotics used in medicine.
Tactics and Results
Locklyn picked 24 different plants, 12 of which were native to Oklahoma. She weighed and cut the plants into one gram pieces, and boiled them in distilled water to extract potential chemicals in the plants. She then grew Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis on agar plates. Locklyn soaked small paper disks in her plant extracts, and dropped them on her bacterial plates. If the plant extracts contained antibiotic compounds, then the bacteria around the paper disks would die. She also got disks covered in commercial antibiotics, and tested them for comparison, measuring how much bacteria each plant extract or antibiotic could kill. After 24 hours of incubation, she found that 56 percent of the plants she collected showed some antibacterial properties. Of the native plants, seven of them showed antibiotic activity. But none of them were as effective as commercial antibiotics.
Beyond the Project
Locklyn is active in her church and enjoys church activities the most. “I attend a very old church in the country. Walking into this building gives me an instant peaceful feeling,” she says. “I can gather my thoughts and fears in peace and quiet. After Sunday, I am ready to tackle the problems and issues of the upcoming week.” She attends church camps and basketball camps in the summer and has volunteered at basketball camps with elementary school kids to pass on her skills. Locklyn also helps on her family’s farm.
