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UW researchers get recognition
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by Nick Penzenstadler
Monday, April 30, 2007
A University of Wisconsin chemist and her team have discovered a method for identifying new useful compounds for developing antibiotics, and a national science journal recognized the group's findings Friday.
Helen Blackwell, along with her team of graduate students — Jennifer O'Neill, Joseph Stringer and former graduate student Matthew Bowman — provided a new method for analyzing large quantities of molecules in order to stay one step ahead of the body's resistance system. The science journal Chemistry and Biology reported the group's findings in Friday's issue.
"There's a huge need for them. The old anti-bacterials are losing effectiveness," Blackwell said. "[The human body] develops a resistance so quickly; we've developed methods to find them really rapidly."
With a lack of pharmaceutical profitability, Blackwell said it is up to academics to forge ahead with the search for new compounds since the Food and Drug Administration approved the last one in 2000.
Blackwell said the lack of compounds without research like hers will eventually present "a big problem," but topical or pill-form antibiotics are still years away from production using their methods.
"We need to figure out toxicity studies, if it's toxic to animals, then humans, and find out if they are good at killing bacteria," Blackwell said. "Those are a long way down the road."
Blackwell added they have another paper due to be released in the near future that will address the inner workings of bacteria resistance and certain strains causing health threats.
Stringer, who has worked on the project for a little more than a year, said global medicine would benefit from their research because of its inexpensive and rapid method.
"It's easy and doesn't take a lot of time," Stringer said. "You can make a lot of structures in a day or so and figure out which ones are going to work and which ones aren't."
O'Neill said the team had an organized approach to their research, where they built compounds on small pieces of filter paper and punched them out with a hole punch and applied bacteria to observe the most effective mix of "ingredients."
In one case, O'Neill said they isolated a compound that glowed under a blacklight so they could create any shape they wanted — like the motion W logo — by killing off bacteria and creating the fluorescent effect.
"We just used a little capillary tube and delivered our compound onto a piece of paper so we could see exactly where we painted it onto the paper," O'Neill said. "We actually have a picture were it's fluorescent, and then you pour the bacteria on top."
Stringer said the global medical issue could be addressed in small parts in labs like theirs to develop solutions for the future.
"It's tackling a global problem right in our lab. It's an area lacking a little with research where we can step up and make a difference," Stringer said. "What we do is small steps, but hopefully it can contribute."
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