Researchers in Simon Fraser University’s Brinkman Laboratory are collaborating with U.S. researchers to test a new drug that can kill a wide range of superbugs – including some bacteria now resistant to all common antibiotics.
Researchers in Simon Fraser University’s Brinkman Laboratory are collaborating with U.S. researchers to test a new drug that can kill a wide range of superbugs – including some bacteria now resistant to all common antibiotics.
Known as AB569, the drug contains ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (commonly referred to as EDTA) and acidified nitrite, two inexpensive chemicals that the researchers discovered work together to effectively kill disease-causing bacteria without harming human cells.
“We have a growing crisis with antibiotics becoming less and less effective, and treatments are failing; that’s why it’s important to test and develop new drugs and approaches to treat disease-causing bacteria that are highly resistant to existing antibiotics,” says Geoff Winsor, lead database developer at SFU’s Brinkman Lab, which is headed by SFU professor Fiona Brinkman.
SFU researchers characterized, at the molecular level, how the chemicals in the AB569 compound were likely working together to kill the notoriously drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, using their Pseudomonas Genome Database hosted at SFU, and computer-based analyses of molecular data.
Read more at Simon Fraser University
Image: Simon Fraser University professor Fiona Brinkman and Geoff Winsor, lead database developer at SFU's Brinkman Lab. (Credit: Simon Fraser University)
