Chemistry Professor Receives Grant to Fund Research on Novel Antibiotics
When diagnosed with an infection, we all tend to assume that it can be easily treated with antibiotics, but this may not always be the case. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, cautions that antibiotic resistant infections are one of the most serious threats of the 21st century, causing 750,000 deaths worldwide each year.
In an effort to combat the growing threat of antibiotic resistant infections, or “super bugs,” Carol Taylor, LSU professor of chemistry and department chair, has been awarded a $390,000 National Science Foundation grant to research a family of potent antibiotics with considerable therapeutic potential.
Taylor and her research team are developing novel approaches to the microbisporicins, which are 24-amino acid lantibiotic peptides with five thioether bridges and a C-terminal aminovinyl cysteine (AviCys) moiety, the most powerful lantibiotics isolated to date.
“Given the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria, the significance of this research lies in providing efficient ways to make these compounds and in the long term open the door to the development of new antibiotics,” said Taylor.
The chemical synthesis of the lantibiotic class has been the subject of intense, contemporary investigation. Chemical and enzymatic/microbial syntheses are being pursued, but no current approach has been able to deliver useful quantities of the antibiotics.
“For example, leaders in the field typically pursue a linear approach, in the order of 70 reaction steps. We can make the compounds, but not efficiently,” said Taylor
The microbisporicins are entering clinical trials, but questions remain about the details of their exact structure. “As we move forward with this project, our method has the potential to make the antibiotics in homogeneous form or larger scale than they are available from nature.”
Taylor and chemistry PhD student and Louisiana Board of Regents Graduate Fellow Joshua Lutz have already begun work on the project. Taylor will use a portion of the NSF award to support another graduate student and and plans to add a postdoc to her team in the near future. Undergraduate researchers have already been involved in preliminary studies and there are opportunities for them to make contributions.
About Carol Taylor:
Taylor received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. Prior to joining LSU in 2006, she spent nearly 12 years as a faculty in her native New Zealand. Her research interests are focused around the chemical synthesis of architecturally interesting molecules that have biological and/or medicinal significance. The major focus of her research in recent years has been the synthesis and incorporation of modified prolines into peptides.