Presenter Information

Dawid MaciorowskiFollow

Major

Molecular Biology

Anticipated Graduation Year

2021

Access Type

Restricted Access

Abstract

Life-threatening bacterial infections have been rising drastically due to high rates of antibiotic resistance. This research utilizes a medicinal chemistry approach to synthesize new antibiotics that target the key bacterial enzyme DapE. DapE is an enzyme that is part of the succinylase pathway and is essential for bacterial proliferation. As lysine is necessary for protein synthesis, molecules that can inhibit the DapE enzyme have the potential to be antimicrobial agents with a new mechanism of action. This research also introduces a new way to test novel antibiotic utility by administering the antibiotics to human gut microbial communities in vitro.

Faculty Mentors & Instructors

Michael Burns PhD Dept. of Biology; Daniel Becker PhD Dept. of Chemistry

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Share

COinS
 

Using the Human Microbiome as a Model for Antibiotic Efficacy

Life-threatening bacterial infections have been rising drastically due to high rates of antibiotic resistance. This research utilizes a medicinal chemistry approach to synthesize new antibiotics that target the key bacterial enzyme DapE. DapE is an enzyme that is part of the succinylase pathway and is essential for bacterial proliferation. As lysine is necessary for protein synthesis, molecules that can inhibit the DapE enzyme have the potential to be antimicrobial agents with a new mechanism of action. This research also introduces a new way to test novel antibiotic utility by administering the antibiotics to human gut microbial communities in vitro.