“SwRI and UTSA will work together to combat the growing threat antimicrobial resistance poses to global health by developing a proof-of-concept platform to potentially create a whole library of new antibiotics,” said Shawn Blumberg, a lead scientist in SwRI’s Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division and co-principal investigator (co-PI) of the project.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is either a direct cause or a contributing factor in millions of deaths worldwide each year. The crisis is exacerbated by what WHO calls “an antibiotics pipeline and access crisis.”
Blumberg and his co-PI, Stanton F. McHardy, associate professor in the UTSA College of Sciences, will focus on creating a pipeline of new polycyclic antibiotics. This class of antibiotics includes tetracyclines, commonly used to treat pneumonia; anthracyclines, used to fight a cancer; and polycyclic xanthones, natural compounds with known health benefits.
“Polycyclic xanthones offer a variety of potential therapeutic applications, but they haven't been assessed yet,” said McHardy. “With the new synthesis process, we’re hoping to rapidly access a unique class of chemical building blocks, structural analogs and new compounds.”
The team plans to use the process to discover more effective tetracycline antibiotics and safer anthracycline treatments with fewer side effects. Blumberg and McHardy also hope to create synthetic polycyclic xanthones that can mimic natural analogues while delivering new mechanisms of action, or new ways of fighting infections.
To achieve their goals, Blumberg and McHardy say they’ll tap into the unique reactivity of dendralenes, which are chemical compounds used to “glue” molecular fragments together in a single step. Their goal is to rapidly explore and discover new treatments while improving or finding new techniques to tweak the structure of existing antibiotics to improve safety, reverse resistance and combat AMR worldwide.
“I like to think of it as a relay race,” said Blumberg, “SwRI will procure and synthesize advanced starting materials to deliver to UTSA. Then Dr. McHardy and his team will screen those materials to identify optimal conditions for achieving our desired chemical outcome. With those findings, SwRI will begin to synthesize additional materials until the molecular fragments are stitched together as designed.”
The project will run through July of 2025.
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Join the conversation around the current status of voting rights in Texas at this flagship event produced by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in honor of their 50th anniversary.
Downtown CampusThere are many citation managers. Which one is right for you? This workshop will explain what a citation manager is and how it can help you organize your citations, insert citations as you write your paper, and generate your bibliography. If you plan to attend one of our hands-on Endnote®, Zotero®, or BibTeX® / LaTex® workshops, we recommend that you start with this overview.
Virtual EventJoin us for a recital featuring a variety of Hispanic music from Spain and Latin America. The evening’s entertainment will include pieces by UTSA faculty, the UTSA Mariachi Los Paisanos, and special guest artists including the director of Texas A&M International University's Mariachi Internacional.
UTSA Recital HallJoin Dr. Rachel Yvonne Cruz, Assistant Professor of Mexican American Studies, for an interactive discussion on how music can challenge patriarchy, sexism, and colonialism through a guided discussion and live acoustic performance.
Assembly Room, 4th Floor (4.04.22), John Peace Library, Main CampusIn this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to have EndNote already installed on a personal computer.
Virtual EventAre you required to use LaTeX for writing your research papers? This workshop is divided into two parts: an introduction to Zotero, a citation management tool, and a demonstration of the features of Overleaf, a free online LaTeX editor.
Virtual EventCome listen to the UTSA Jazz Ensemble at a free event.
UTSA Recital HallThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
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