Specifically, the two research teams are focused on developing a system to engineer new, stable antimicrobial peptides, also known as AMPs. AMPs are becoming an increasingly common antimicrobial therapy used to combat antibiotic-resistance, despite their structural instability and toxicity to health human cells.
The researchers hope to get peptide development, commercialization and clinical settings application rolling again by using a new approach that combines immunology and engineering, according to He Dong, PhD, the leader of the Clarkson research teams.
“Our work represents a fundamentally new and unique approach to the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection by exploiting multiple antimicrobial peptides in the form of Self-Assembled Antimicrobial Nanofibers, which we term as SAANs,” said Dr. Wong.
She described how, using immunoengineering, the research teams have tried to understand the molecular mechanism behind SAANs and have found the nanofibers demonstrated potent antimicrobial activity as well as reduced harm against healthy human cells.
The team has begun using the innovative technique to target several types of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections as well.
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