Inducing essential bacterial enzymes to self-destruct. Antimicrobial resistance is a looming crisis. Breakthrough cell biology is needed to identify new targets and new mechanisms of inhibition. This

Description

Inducing essential bacterial enzymes to self-destruct. Antimicrobial resistance is a looming crisis. Breakthrough cell biology is needed to identify new targets and new mechanisms of inhibition. This project aims to probe the susceptibility of bacteria to a novel “reaction-hijacking” mechanism, which has recently been discovered by our team. This work expects to catalogue targetable enzymes in bacteria and probe the inhibition mechanism using chemical, structural and cell biology approaches. Expected outcomes include the discovery of powerful chemical probes to study key metabolic enzymes in bacteria and a blueprint for the design of selective reaction-hijacking inhibitors. In the longer term, this work will underpin new therapeutic avenues for bacterial infections of humans and animals.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Dr Stanley Cheng Xie