The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a modern global public health threat. Although resistant strains have emerged against all the major classes of antibiotics, those that no longer respond to β-lactam therapy have been especially concerning, as the β-lactams have traditionally been the drugs of choice for treatment of infections caused by many species of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. One clinically successful approach for prolonging the utility of β-lactams has been to co-administer them with adjuvants, which are agents that potentiate the activity of the antibiotic, but that do not necessarily exhibit antibacterial activity of their own. Our group is interested in developing new adjuvants for restoring β-lactam activity against antibiotic resistant bacteria, with a focus on harnessing underexplored mechanisms of inhibition. We have initiated chemical and biological studies on natural products displaying adjuvant activity against methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA), and on synthetic small molecules for inhibition of β-lactamases expressed by Gram-negative bacteria. This seminar will present some of our early results in these areas.

Bringing β-lactam antibiotics back to life: Strategies for restoring their activity against resistant bacteria

255th National Meeting (2018)

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