In an age when microbial pathogens are growing increasingly resistant
to the conventional antibiotics used to tamp down infection, a team of
Wisconsin scientists has synthesized a potent new class of compounds
capable of curbing the bacteria that cause staph infections.
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| These assays were used to assess the effects of
new agents to disrupt communication among pathogenic staph bacteria.
Research shows promise for a new approach to thwarting staph infections,
which are increasingly resistant to conventional antibiotics.
Photo courtesy of Blackwell Lab |
Writing online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Helen Blackwell describes agents that effectively interfere with the "quorum sensing" behavior of Staphylococcus aureus,
a bacterium at the root of a host of human infections ranging from acne
to life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia, toxic shock syndrome
and sepsis.
Credit: http://www.news.wisc.edu