Establishing a Synergistic Partnership for Structural Biology between the University of Münster and the ETH Zurich: Merging BioNMR and Fluorinated Glycochemistry to Expand a New Frontier in Biomedicine

Basic data for this project

Description

Hospital superbugs are a major societal concern that requires urgent attention: Treating patients infected with multi-resistant bacteria is often very difficult or even impossible, with small organic molecules being very much at the forefront of this battle. In 2019, bacterial infections were responsible for 7.7 million deaths worldwide, with half of these caused by just five bacterial species (S. Aureus, E. Coli, S. Pneumoniae, K. Pneumonia, P. aeruginosa) that belong to the group of drug-resistant pathogens. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that the threat of antimicrobial resistance will continue to grow rapidly over the next few years and will become one of the greatest global threats unless alternative therapeutic approaches are urgently explored. Driven by the urgent societal need for alternative effective therapeutic avenues, a collaborative initiative has been established which aims to elucidate key aspects of bacterial infection at the molecular level, and facilitate the design and development of next generation drug targets. The focus of this project is on specific carbohydrate structures that play a key role in the infection process. The expertise in specifically modifying complex carbohydrates to harness bio-NMR spectroscopy for monitoring lies in the group of Prof. Ryan Gilmour, Professor of Chemical Biology at the Institute of Organic Chemistry. By introducing fluorine into the carbohydrate molecule, it is possible to identify important interactions with bacterial proteins that are involved in the spread and development of resistance against antibiotics. In this context, dynamic NMR spectroscopy is a key technology to speed up the target identification within this project. Our aim is to exploit and strengthen the potential of carbohydrates in drug development by establishing a unique carbohydrate-specific NMR platform in Münster. To realise this project, Dr Christina Jordan will acquire the expertise in bio-NMR spectroscopy at the internationally renowned ETH Zurich in the working group of Dr Alvar Gossert and transfer it to Münster. This synergistic combination of expertise from two research areas (organic chemistry and structural biology) will create a unique platform to accelerate drug discovery and tackle the threat posed by multi-resistant bacteria. We are very grateful for the funding from the Zukunftslabor and the "Ideenlabor" initiative at the University of Münster, as it will enable us to identify and exploit new interdisciplinary interfaces and thus lay the foundations for the implementation of this project.