{"id":726,"date":"2016-06-07T12:25:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T12:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/2016\/06\/07\/resistance-remedies\/"},"modified":"2016-06-07T12:25:02","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T12:25:02","slug":"resistance-remedies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/2016\/06\/07\/resistance-remedies\/","title":{"rendered":"Resistance Remedies"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the recent finding in Pennsylvania of a hospital patient with an E.coli<\/em> infection that resists colistin, an antibiotic used as the last line of defense against multi-drug resistant bacteria, the scientific and medical communities continue to search for answers to the menace of superbugs.<\/p>\n

While common antibiotics were able to treat the patient, the major concern is the spread of an antibiotic resistance factor previously unseen in the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>
Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou uses the CRISPR system to battle antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Photo by Marc Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NC State researchers are working on different approaches to fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.<\/p>\n

Biochemist John Cavanagh and organic chemist Christian Melander started a company, Agile Sciences<\/a>, that uses small molecules to target the resistance in superbugs to make them once again susceptible to common antibiotics.<\/p>\n

The concept for their approach came from a marine sponge secretion that keeps the sponge free from bacterial colonization.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur molecules interfere with the bacteria\u2019s ability to sense and respond to their environment,\u201d Cavanagh said. \u201cThis interference strips the ability of the bacteria to mount protective responses, such as biofilm formation and the expression of antibiotic resistance traits, to environmental threats. The bacteria are rendered defenseless and can be effectively eliminated with traditional antibacterial approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chase<\/a>
Chase Beisel works on CRISPR systems to battle antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Photo by March Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Food scientist Rodolphe Barrangou and chemical engineer Chase Beisel approach the problem of antibiotic resistance another way: with the power of the gene-editing system called CRISPR. CRISPR systems target viral invaders; in the past decade or so, researchers have harnessed that power to delete DNA sequences from a cell. But since the CRISPR system is essentially a bacterial immune system, it can also be turned against itself to cause cell death.<\/p>\n

\u201cResistant bacteria can be targeted by CRISPR systems,\u201d Barrangou said. \u201cThe academic literature has already shown staph infections being knocked out in mice models.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of promise here and less engineering needed because CRISPR comes from bacteria. That means taking a bacteria\u2019s defensive machinery and directing it against itself to make it commit cellular suicide. Think of the antibacterial potential of unleashing that power.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post was originally published<\/a> in NC State News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"With the recent finding in Pennsylvania of a hospital patient with an E.coli<\/em> infection that resists colistin, an antibiotic used as the last line of defense against multi-drug resistant bacteria, the scientific and medical communities continue to search for answers to the menace of superbugs.\r\n\r\nWhile common antibiotics were able to treat the patient, the major concern is the spread of an antibiotic resistance factor previously unseen in the United States.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_365811\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"Dr.<\/a> Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou uses the CRISPR system to battle antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Photo by Marc Hall[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNC State researchers are working on different approaches to fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.\r\n\r\nBiochemist John Cavanagh and organic chemist Christian Melander started a company, Agile Sciences<\/a>, that uses small molecules to target the resistance in superbugs to make them once again susceptible to common antibiotics.\r\n\r\nThe concept for their approach came from a marine sponge secretion that keeps the sponge free from bacterial colonization.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur molecules interfere with the bacteria\u2019s ability to sense and respond to their environment,\u201d Cavanagh said. \u201cThis interference strips the ability of the bacteria to mount protective responses, such as biofilm formation and the expression of antibiotic resistance traits, to environmental threats. The bacteria are rendered defenseless and can be effectively eliminated with traditional antibacterial approaches.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_365841\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"Chase<\/a> Chase Beisel works on CRISPR systems to battle antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Photo by March Hall.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFood scientist Rodolphe Barrangou and chemical engineer Chase Beisel approach the problem of antibiotic resistance another way: with the power of the gene-editing system called CRISPR. CRISPR systems target viral invaders; in the past decade or so, researchers have harnessed that power to delete DNA sequences from a cell. But since the CRISPR system is essentially a bacterial immune system, it can also be turned against itself to cause cell death.\r\n\r\n\u201cResistant bacteria can be targeted by CRISPR systems,\u201d Barrangou said. \u201cThe academic literature has already shown staph infections being knocked out in mice models.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s lots of promise here and less engineering needed because CRISPR comes from bacteria. That means taking a bacteria\u2019s defensive machinery and directing it against itself to make it commit cellular suicide. Think of the antibacterial potential of unleashing that power.\u201d"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NC State researchers battle bacteria to show that resistance is futile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-_from-newswire-collection-6"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}