MIT and Harvard University researchers have engineered E. coli cells that can be used to study how bacteria at an infection site respond to antibiotic treatment, allowing scientists to learn more about how existing antibiotics work and potentially help them to develop new drugs.
In the new study, which appears in the Aug. 31 issue of Cell Host and Microbe, the researchers found evidence that some existing hypotheses about how bacteria respond to antibiotics are not correct.
MIT and Harvard University researchers have engineered E. coli cells that can be used to study how bacteria at an infection site respond to antibiotic treatment, allowing scientists to learn more about how existing antibiotics work and potentially help them to develop new drugs.
In the new study, which appears in the Aug. 31 issue of Cell Host and Microbe, the researchers found evidence that some existing hypotheses about how bacteria respond to antibiotics are not correct.
“Our study shows that using engineered organisms can give you a window into infection sites and expand our understanding of what antibiotics are actually doing. This work indicates that some of our assumptions may be wrong,” says James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Department of Biological Engineering and the senior author of the study.
Continue reading at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Image: A new method allows scientists to learn more about how existing antibiotics work and potentially help them to develop new drugs. Credit: MIT News
