Targeting bacterial membrane proteins for new antimicrobial strategies

Bacterial antibiotic resistance is a global health challenge in both public health and biodefence but new antibiotic development by large pharma is in decline. The void in the sector is being filled by academic and biotech companies leading to the development of new therapeutic technologies that can provide new safe and effective antibiotics. We will collaborate with Dstl to investigate the membrane protein complexes responsible for cell wall biosynthesis in selected pathogens using a variety of new approaches. We will focus on the assembly of the bacterial cell wall, a validated target for existing antibiotics where novel insight in the past decade from mechanistic studies and advances in bacterial cell biology, have provided new opportunity and understanding related to this process offering fresh perspectives in new antibiotic discovery.
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