Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Mycobacterium tuberculsis (Mtb), the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, uses host derived cholesterol during infection. In fact, disruption of Mtb's ability to degrade cholesterol greatly reduces the ability of Mtb to survive and cause disease. Proposed is the characterization of an attractive drug target of a previously unknown enzyme involved in this cholesterol degradation pathway. We hypothesize that this enzyme, IpdAB, is preforming a unique ring-opening reaction which is vital to the degradation of cholesterol. Information from the proposed study could be used to design novel therapeutics against Mtb.