Scientists say at least five million deaths in 2019 were tied to bacteria that did not respond to antibiotics – infections caused, in some cases, by staphylococcus aureus.
“Staph infections -- lots of people will have had experience with those," says Professor Jason Papin. He and his team are now using complex computer models to understand how that bug and a second, less common bacteria called pseudomonas aeruginosa evolve to resist medications.
“Every single new antibiotic that’s come out eventually some drug resistant strain of bacteria emerges. That problem has been increasing over the last several years,” Papin says.
He compares the bacterial cells to cities with roads and highways that make commerce possible.
“We use GoogleMaps or these other tools to try to figure out what’s the best way to move from one place to another," he explains. "Our computer models do a very similar thing. How do these molecules move in the cell? Can we figure out which of these different pathways are most important? And if we were to block that particular pathway, do we stop the ability of the cell to do things that are important for it developing resistance.”
With a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, he and his fellow biomedical engineers will spend the next four years studying cellular maps and perhaps identifying new treatments for deadly infections.
“We developed these computer models to try to understand which genes are important. Which proteins or metabolites are really critical for cellular processes? Are there proteins or genes in these bacteria that we can target and for which new drugs can be developed?”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
