If you could see yourself liking biology, we're at the point where DNA sequencing of (micro-)organisms is becoming super cheap. You could get into writing software for analysing DNA sequences. There's going to be a need for software capable of handling many whole genome sequences in a short amount of time. There are currently both open- and closed-source options, so you could go either route.
If you want to get an idea if that sort of programming would appeal to you, there's a free online set of problems called "ROSALIND" (http://rosalind.info/about/), which teaches the biology alongside getting you to develop your own solutions to the posed bioinformatics questions (in any programming language you like).
There is already a fast way to tell if bacteria are dead or alive; it's called live/dead staining. Basically, it stains living cells one fluorescent colour and dead cells another. You can then look at the sample under a fluorescent microscope or with a flow cytometer to quantify the amount of killing caused by the antibiotic.
Doesn't this assume you know what bacterium you are looking for, that you have the right primers, and that you know where the antibiotic resistance genes are? There seem to be too many variables to test for all of them. And why qPCR instead of regular old PCR? qPCR machines are pricey.
Slashdot Mirror
If you could see yourself liking biology, we're at the point where DNA sequencing of (micro-)organisms is becoming super cheap. You could get into writing software for analysing DNA sequences. There's going to be a need for software capable of handling many whole genome sequences in a short amount of time. There are currently both open- and closed-source options, so you could go either route.
If you want to get an idea if that sort of programming would appeal to you, there's a free online set of problems called "ROSALIND" (http://rosalind.info/about/), which teaches the biology alongside getting you to develop your own solutions to the posed bioinformatics questions (in any programming language you like).
There is already a fast way to tell if bacteria are dead or alive; it's called live/dead staining. Basically, it stains living cells one fluorescent colour and dead cells another. You can then look at the sample under a fluorescent microscope or with a flow cytometer to quantify the amount of killing caused by the antibiotic.
qPCR, RT-PCR, and/or ELISA
Doesn't this assume you know what bacterium you are looking for, that you have the right primers, and that you know where the antibiotic resistance genes are? There seem to be too many variables to test for all of them. And why qPCR instead of regular old PCR? qPCR machines are pricey.