Grant: Project Grant

Bacterial infections are a major threat to health. The uncontrolled growth of harmful bacteria can be the cause of food poisoning, respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, or meningitis. In some cases, bacterial infections can be controlled by the human immune response. In other cases, antibiotics are required to control infections. Our current healthcare system is reliant on the widespread use of antibiotics in clinical practice. The widespread use of antibiotics in clinical and agricultural settings has provided an evolutionary pressure for the emergence of resistance. As resistance genes spread in bacterial populations, our current arsenal of antibiotics can become obsolete. For this reason, we are engaged in a non-stop arms race with bacteria, with resistance to antibiotics generally emerging after the wide distribution of any antibiotic. Currently, estimates of deaths worldwide associated with antimicrobial resistance are 4.71 million per year (as of 2021), a number expected to rise. This grant is focused on antibiotics for Gram-negative bacteria, a type of bacteria that is particularly challenging to target. Fewer drugs are available to treat Gram-negative infections. The antibiotic we will focus on is synthesized in one specific strain of soil-dwelling bacteria. We want to understand how this molecule is made. Using this information, we can use advanced tools to identify other bacteria predicted to make other antibiotics from this class. We will then use targeted methods to track down and isolate those molecules and test them as potential antibiotics. Our research is important as we need to develop more antibiotics, particularly for targeting Gram-negative bacteria.