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The Fight Against Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogenic Bacteria: A New Era
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The unchecked use of antibiotics since their discovery over 70 years ago has compromised their effectiveness, resulting in the rapid evolution of drug resistance. This includes drug-resistance genes on mobile genetic elements that are able to spread rapidly within and between species. The absence of antibiotic discovery programs in most pharmaceutical companies and the limited success in developing novel compounds has exacerbated the problem. The talks will cover the gravity of antibiotic resistance which has led to alternative strategies, including phage therapy, antibody treatment, inhibitory peptides, and immunomodulators. New anti-infectives being developed include exploiting bacteriophage, in which systems have evolved to rapidly kill pathogenic bacteria. One such system involves purified bacteriophage lysins, used in microgram to sub-microgram quantities to rapidly kill disease bacteria on mucous membrane surfaces, infected tissues, and in blood. These small amounts of purified lysins are able to sterilize a 107 bacterial suspension in seconds to minutes, offering a novel alternative to antibiotics. In addition, the binding domain of phage lysins has evolved to target essential structures in the gram-positive cell wall that the bacteria cannot easily alter. Using this information, strategies have been developed to identify novel pathways in the gram-positive organism that are targets for antibiotics with reduced potential for resistance.
Agenda
Welcome and Introduction
Jennifer Henry, PhD, The New York Academy of Sciences
Shirley Raps, PhD, Hunter College, CUNY
The Confounding Issues Regarding Antibiotic Resistance - A No-Win Battle!
Barry Kreiswirth, PhD, UMDNJ
Using what Bacteriophage have Learned to Develop Novel Tools for Treating Gram-Positive Infections
Vincent A. Fischetti, PhD, The Rockefeller University
Networking reception to follow
Registration Pricing
Member: | $0 |
Student / Postdoc / Fellow Member: | $0 |
Nonmember: | $30 |
Student / Postdoc / Fellow Nonmember: | $15 |
Image Credit: Pauline Yoong and Vincent A. Fischetti, Rockefeller University
Speakers
Organizers
Shirley Raps, PhD
Hunter College, CUNY
Shirley Raps, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Hunter College of CUNY, has been a member of the Microbiology Section of the NYAS for many years. Her research has involved characterizing Microcystis aeruginosa strain UV027, a fresh water, toxin-producing cyanobacterium known to be a health hazard to animals and humans.
She is also involved in science education as Director of an HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Grant to Hunter College. The grant funds promoting research by undergraduates at Hunter College, at the Marine Biological laboratory and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories to encourage research careers via PhD or MD/PhD programs. The grant also funds an Outreach Program to high school and middle school teachers and their students with the goal of increasing the interest in science/scientific research among pre-college students.
Jennifer Henry, PhD
The New York Academy of Sciences
Speakers
Vincent A. Fischetti, PhD
The Rockefeller University
Dr. Fischetti has over 40 years experience in the anti-infectives field. He is Professor and Chairman of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology at the Rockefeller University, in NY. Over those years his laboratory has been involved in understand the earliest events in gram-positive bacterial infection, so that strategies may be devised to interfere with these processes to prevent infection. Dr. Fischetti is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and is the recipient of two NIH MERIT awards. He has been editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Infection and Immunity for 10 years, and serves as advisory editor for a number of journals. Dr. Fischetti serves on the scientific advisory board and is a trustee of the Trudeau Institute. He is also serves as the chair of the SAB of ContraFect. He has published approximately 185 primary research articles, and over 70 textbook chapters as well as being an inventor of over 50 issued patents. Dr. Fischetti received a Ph.D. in Microbiology from New York University.
Barry Kreiswirth, PhD
UMDNJ
Barry Kreiswirth joined the Public Health Research (PHRI) in 1978 as a graduate student in Richard Novick's laboratory to work on the molecular biology of Staphylococcus aureus. His doctoral thesis was on the cloning of this bacterium and the genetic characterization of its toxic shock syndrome (TSS) toxin-1. Kreiswirth remained in the Novick laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow and research assistant, continuing his investigation into the molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Fourteen years later, in response to the New York City outbreak, Kreiswirth became the director of PHRI's Tuberculosis Center. However, despite the extensive investment in tuberculosis research, the Center has not abandoned its interest in the molecular typing of MRSA and recently developed a rapid DNA-sequenced-based genotyping method enabling scientists to accurately sub-speciate strains of staphylococcus. This approach has been adapted to identify a variety of hospital-acquired pathogens and is now used to construct a nosocomial surveillance database in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health and Hospitals.
Abstracts
The Confounding Issues Regarding Antibiotic Resistance — A No-Win Battle!
Barry Kreiswirth, PhD, UMDNJ
Using What Bacteriophage Have Learned to Develop Novel Tools for Treating Gram-positive Infections
Vincent A. Fischetti, PhD, The Rockefeller University
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