Reviving the Antibiotic Miracle – the Paradox of Prescription vs Preservation

Pause-conférence | Pr Karl Hansford (Australie)

Le Pr Karl Hansford, professeur à l’Institute for Molecular Bioscience en Australie, sera l’invité du Pr Steve Bourgault, membre régulier du CERMO-FC, le Lundi 9 septembre à 12h00 en PK-1140.

En savoir plus sur les recherches du Pr Hansford (anglais).

Pr Karl Hansford, a professor at Institute for Molecular Bioscience in Australia, will be the guest of Pr Steve Bourgault, a regular member of CERMO-FC, on Monday, September 9 at 12:00 in PK-1140.

Learn more about Professor Hansford’s research.

Abstract

Forever in an arms race against bacteria, we now face an uncertain future as bacteria continually evolve to develop resistance to our antibiotic armamentarium. This has led to an ominous rise of infections caused by multidrug-resistant strains of Gram-negative bacteria, for which treatment options are limited. The phenomenon is globally recognized, but continuous rhetoric has yet to deliver effective strategies to solve this multi-faceted problem. In particular, major scientific challenges have slowed the progression of the antibiotic pipeline, particularly for Gram-negative therapies. Most antibiotics are derived from natural products, representing a finite number of classes with associated modes of action that have inevitably fallen prey to resistance development. To stay one step ahead in this perpetual battle, new molecules with unique modes of action are desperately needed, but finding new starting points for antibiotic development is a major challenge. We have adopted several approaches to tackle these issues: we re-designed vancomycin to overcome resistance in Gram-positive bacteria through selective targeting of the bacterial membrane; we delved into the past to “rediscover” octapeptin, an abandoned natural product lipopeptide with the ability to overcome polymyxin-resistance; and we have rallied the global chemical community to help us find new starting points for compound development by establishing the Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD). This talk will highlight some of the key scientific and economic hurdles faced by the antibiotic drug discovery community, alongside several vignettes describing work being undertaken at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland.

Biosketch

Dr Hansford is a Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at the University of Queensland. He received his B.Sc. (Hons) and Ph.D (2000) in chemistry from the University of Queensland before undertaking postdoctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh and the Université de Montréal.  Thereafter, he joined Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals (Montréal) developing peptidomimetics as a platform for neurotrophin mimicry, before relocating back to Australia to lead the development of novel methodology for the commercial scale production of boronic acids at Boron Molecular (Melbourne). In 2011 he joined the IMB, where he now manages several antibiotic drug discovery projects, including CO-ADD’s medicinal chemistry platform.

Un évènement organisé dans le cadre des Pause-conférences du CERMO-FC et soutenu par :
An event organized as part of the Pause-conférences of CERMO-FC, and support by :