Lauren Crampton conducted a study to identify genes involved in antibiotic production from soil microorganisms. Antibiotics are commonly derived from prokaryotic microbes through the polyketide synthase pathway. Crampton aimed to sequence and amplify type I and II PKS genes involved in this pathway from soil DNA samples, but was unsuccessful in obtaining PCR amplification of the genes. Future work recommendations include collecting fresh soil samples, improving DNA isolation and purification techniques, and further troubleshooting of PCR conditions.