Dermatology 101: Bacteria Elimination by Different Forms of Facial Cleansers

CSEF · 2026 Microbiology (Senior Division)

Sarah Bae, Anthony Cabrera Hernandez, Katherine Nodora

Overview

This project presented an experiment that involved 3 different types of facial cleansers along with 2 control groups.: oil, gel, and balm cleansers. Alongside a control with a total elimination of bacteria using ethanol and a control with no product at all. This would follow the process of stimulating E. coli growth on disc-like replicas of human skin and stamping them on petri dishes to gather observations that would later turn into analytical results.