BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Filling the Void: How to find new antibiotics - Dr. Mark Blaskovic
 h
DTSTART:20180419T130000Z
DTEND:20180419T140000Z
UID:TALK102394@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Jehangir Cama
DESCRIPTION:The antibiotic pipeline is broken\, with a dearth of new antib
 iotics accompanied by a collapse in pharmaceutical company research.[1] We
  need to invest in research that can generate new antibiotics. This talk w
 ill provide an overview of the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance an
 d illustrate drug discovery and development from an antimicrobial perspect
 ive\, highlighting research from our laboratory that demonstrates several 
 approaches that can be taken to discover new antibiotics:\n\n1) Rationally
  improve an existing antibiotic\, where we have selectively modified vanco
 mycin to more potently target bacterial cells\, creating a novel Gram-posi
 tive glycopeptide antibiotic.[2]\n\n2) Rediscover old antibiotics\, by res
 urrecting a lipopeptide antibiotic first reported in the 1970s\, and devel
 oping new analogs able to treat extensively-drug resistant (XDR) Gram-nega
 tive bacteria.[3]\n\n3) Discover new antibiotics by ‘crowdsourcing’ ch
 emical diversity from academic chemists around the world. Our Wellcome Tru
 st-supported not-for-profit Open-Access pipeline\, The Community for Open 
 Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD)\, is a global screening initiative t
 o uncover rich chemical diversity held outside of corporate screening coll
 ections.[4] CO-ADD provides unencumbered free antimicrobial screening for 
 any interested researcher.\n\nAll three tactics have found success\, and a
 re at different stages of development. We have also developed an antibioti
 c-derived platform for detecting and imaging bacteria and bacterial infect
 ions\, with potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment of infections
 . Our research demonstrates that it is possible to develop new antibiotics
  and alternate approaches to reduce antibiotic use\, given sufficient time
  and resources.\n\n \n\n[1] Butler\, Blaskovich\, Cooper\, Antibiotics in 
 the clinical pipeline J. Antibiotics 2017\, 3-24.\n\n[2] Blaskovich et al\
 , Nature Communications (2018) 9\, 22.\n\n[3] Velkov et al\, Cell Chemical
  Biology\, (2018)\, 25\, in press\n\n[4] Blaskovich et al Helping chemists
  discover new antibiotics ACS Infect. Dis. 2015\, 285-287.\n\n \n\n \n\n \
 n\nDr Mark Blaskovich is an antibiotic hunter based at the Centre for Supe
 rbug Solutions in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University
  of Queensland\, and cofounder of the Community for Open Antimicrobial Dru
 g Discovery\, a global antibiotic discovery initiative. Since starting at 
 UQ in 2010\, Mark has been working on developing new antibiotics to treat 
 drug resistant pathogens and the use of modified antibiotics to detect bac
 terial infections. He has initiated a research program focused on a theran
 ostic platform that chemically links existing antibiotics with other antib
 iotics\, antibiotic adjuvants\, antibodies\, magnetic nanoparticles and im
 aging moieties\, creating hybrid constructs with therapeutic and diagnosti
 c potential. Mark has extensive medicinal chemistry expertise and over 15 
 years of industrial drug development experience at three biotech companies
 \, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Mimetica where he developed
  a drug that recently completed Phase 2 human clinical trials for treatmen
 t of acne. He has published over sixty research articles\, authored 'The H
 andbook on Syntheses of Amino Acids'\, and is an inventor on eleven patent
  families with over 100 granted and pending applications.\n\n 
LOCATION:Rayleigh Seminar Room\, Maxwell Centre\, JJ Thomson Avenue
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR