How bacteria resist a new targeted antibacterial and ways to overcome that
Identifying Mechanisms of Resistance to Pathogen-Specific Antibacterial Antisense Compounds and Strategies to Circumvent Them
Testing how new antisense antibiotics work against drug-resistant Acinetobacter so people with these infections can get better treatments.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ut Southwestern Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Dallas, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11329982 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will use laboratory-grown Acinetobacter baumannii and other bacterial strains together with animal infection models to see how resistance to peptide–phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PPMOs) emerges. They will sequence resistant bacteria and run experiments to pinpoint the genetic or biochemical changes that let bacteria escape killing. The team will then test modified PPMOs or combination approaches to try to bypass or prevent those resistance mechanisms. The goal is to turn those findings into strategies that could make these new antibacterials work longer and more reliably against multidrug-resistant infections.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Patients with serious infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, especially Acinetobacter baumannii, would be the most likely to benefit from the resulting therapies or future clinical trials.
Not a fit: People with viral infections or conditions unrelated to bacterial antibiotic resistance are unlikely to benefit from this research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to ways to prevent or reverse resistance to PPMO antibiotics, improving treatment options for people with multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter infections.
How similar studies have performed: Related PPMO approaches have killed multiple Gram-negative pathogens and improved survival in animal models, but the mechanisms of resistance have not been well studied.
Where this research is happening
Dallas, United States
- Ut Southwestern Medical Center — Dallas, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Greenberg, David Elihu — Ut Southwestern Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Greenberg, David Elihu
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.