The fight against superbugs: new antibiotics research

Many people have had a potentially life-threatening encounter with infectious bacteria and have developed resistance to commonly used antibacterial drugs.

Professor Nick Dixon from the Centre for Medical Bioscience will speak about new research into antibiotics in his Research Strength Showcase lecture “Fighting the Superbugs: An Approach to Development of Antibiotics” on Wednesday 6May.

In his lecture he will discuss life-threatening infectious bacteria, research developments over the last 30 years and how researchers at the UOW are working towards preventing severe infections.

The most familiar ‘superbug’ is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), also called Golden Staph, and there are many other bacteria that pose serious health threats, especially to patients with compromised immune systems and people living in developing nations.

“The discovery of a range of new antibiotics and their judicious use is the only practical way to fight these infections to save lives,” Professor Dixon said. “It is unfortunate that the pharmaceutical industry has been slow to respond to the challenge.”

One of approaches Professor Dixon and his team are undertaking is to design new chemical compounds that specifically interfere with an essential process common to all bacteria: DNA replication. He said copying DNA in cells that are about to divide presents several good molecular targets for development of new drugs against which resistance should be slow or impossible to develop.

“After more than 30 years of research, it is now finally understood how DNA synthesis occurs through a series of exquisitely orchestrated steps, where each component of the replication machinery has distinct functions at each stage,” Professor Dixon said.

“This places our researchers in an excellent position to exploit this knowledge to design new drugs.”

Media please note

The Research Strength Showcase presentation will be held at 12:30-1:30pm, 8 April in Building 20, room 2. For further information click here or contact Professor Nick Dixon on 4221 4346 or email vwallace@uow.edu.au

Last reviewed: 5 May, 2009