11 November 2008

Grant awarded to develop anti infective drugs

Scientists in Scotland, Sweden and Germany - led by the University of Dundee - have been awarded a €4.6 million (approx £3.8m) grant from the European Union to develop new anti-infective drugs to fight some of the most difficult to treat bacterial 'superbugs'.

The AEROPATH project aims to find new drugs to combat bacterial infections, which are a particular problem for people suffering from cystic fibrosis, for burns victims, and patients whose immune system’s ability to fight infectious disease is compromised, for example by chemotherapy during cancer treatment.

These life-threatening and difficult to treat infections are caused by Gram-negative bacteria, often called `superbugs’ because they are resistant to common antibiotics.

The University of Dundee is leading the research partnership, which also includes the University of St Andrews, the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and two German-based companies, Lionex and MFD Diagnostics. The project is funded by the European Union, through the FP7 programme for research and innovation.

'These bacterial species are highly resistant to most current drugs,' said Professor Bill Hunter, of the College of Life Sciences at Dundee, who is coordinating the research programme. 'What we are doing in this project is seeking out chemicals which can underpin future antibiotic drug development to combat these dangerous bacteria.'

Professor Hunter explained that the bacteria prospered in conditions where the human immune system is weakened or human tissue was not properly functioning - factors which are common in conditions like Cystic Fibrosis and in instances of burns injuries.

The project will fund eight new posts for post-doctoral researchers across the partner institutions.

The research project is designed to exploit genome data, identify and characterise new therapeutic targets and, by modern computational and high-throughput methods, seek out chemicals that kill the bacteria.

'We are grateful to the EU for a significant level of funding that will enable a highly talented group of investigators to collaborate and tackle what is a really difficult problem,' said Professor Hunter. 'We look forward to the challenge and are determined to progress our research to make significant advances in an important yet relatively neglected area.

'We recognise the role played by the Scottish Funding Council who laid the foundation for what we plan to do by supporting cooperation and pooling of expertise between the Universities of St. Andrews and Dundee to create the Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility together with their support for the Scottish Hit Discovery Facility in Dundee. This contributed greatly to us winning EU funding and allowed us to forge links with Prof. Gunter Schneider at the internationally renowned Karolinska Institutet and with Dr Mahivir Singh and colleagues in Germany whose expertise in pathogen biology will be critical to the project.'

The project is particularly focused on the pathogen Pseudomonas aeroginosa, which presents a particular problem for individuals suffering from cystic fibrosis, for burn victims and patients whose immune systems ability to fight infectious disease is compromised for example by chemotherapy during cancer treatment. The research is also designed to impact on other Gram-negative bacterial pathogens and hospital superbugs such as Stenotrophomonas and Acinetobacter species, which are often the cause of life-threatening and difficult to treat infections.

Using an imaging method called single crystal diffraction, the researchers will be able to build accurate three-dimensional models of the proteins which are essential for the bacteria to live. From these structures, scientists can then develop targets for chemicals which can bind to the proteins, disrupt a biological reaction and in so doing kill the bacteria.

Professor Mike Ferguson, Dean of Research to the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee, said 'This programme brings together a powerful coalition of scientists to research new medicines against Gram-negative bacteria - some of the hardest bugs to deal with clinically. It is a great example of interdisciplinary science, applying chemistry, biology, biophysics and computational methods to a specific medical problem.'

Professor Naismith said 'St Andrews has a long standing and strong partnership with Dundee in this area. Working with colleagues from across Europe to help defeat these serious illnesses is exactly what Universities do best'.

NOTES TO EDITORS
Consortium members from Dundee are Dr. Ruth Brenk, Prof. Julie Frearson, Prof. Andrew Hopkins and Prof. William Hunter; from St. Andrews, Prof. Jim Naismith, Prof. Garry Taylor and Prof. Malcolm White.

The images provided show the types of crystals used to obtain the 3D protein structures that underpin the research.

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