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Lizbeth Hedstrom

Lizbeth Hedstrom

Seminar
Thu, Feb. 22, 2018, 4:30pm
Edward C. Taylor Auditorium, Frick B02
Host: Mohammed Seyedsayamdost

Essential versus vulnerable:targeting IMP dehydrogenase for antimicrobial therapy

New antibiotics and new antibiotic targets are urgently needed to combat the emergence of drug resistant pathogens.  Knockout experiments consistently find that the genes involved in nucleotide biosynthesis are required for microbial infections. In particular, guaB, the gene encoding inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), has been deemed essential in many pathogens, including two of the most serious threats: Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  This seminar will describe our efforts to target prokaryotic IMPDHs, which illustrate the opportunities and perils of target-based antibiotic discovery- surprisingly variable structure-activity relationships, unsuspected salvage pathways and unanticipated alternative targets.