Principal Investigator (PI)
The Foundation is providing £206,467 in support.
Athanasios Nikolaou
Sophia Katherine Berry
GSK contributes:
1) high throughput screening expertise to miniaturize the assay.
2) compounds for screening and access to Shigella animal models as well as drug discovery expertise to assess the potential of this approach to deliver a drug for patients.
The world faces a major infectious disease challenge that is being made worse by antimicrobial resistance. We need new therapeutic modalities that overcome resistance and that do not affect the natural gastrointestinal flora, which is proven to be essential for gastrointestinal health. We contend that cell shape may be a targetable Achilles heel for enteric bacterial pathogens and has not yet been fully exploited for drug discovery applications.
There is evidence that cell shape can affect the virulence of pathogens (e.g. Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp.). Through this Open Lab project, this characteristic will be exploited for high-throughput screens against Shigella spp. and other enteric bacteria.