PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Mar-2014

Contact: Michael Bernstein 214-853-8005 (Dallas Press Center, March 14-19) 202-872-6042 m_bernstein@acs.org

Contact: Katie Cottingham, Ph.D. 214-853-8005 (Dallas Press Center, March 14-19) 301-775-8455 k_cottingham@acs.org

American Chemical Society

DALLAS, March 17, 2014 In response to drug-resistant "superbugs" that send millions of people to hospitals around the world, scientists are building tiny, "molecular drill bits" that kill bacteria by bursting through their protective cell walls. They presented some of the latest developments on these drill bits, better known to scientists as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.

The meeting, which features more than 10,000 scientific reports across disciplines from energy to medicine, continues here through Thursday.

One of the researchers in the search for new ways to beat pathogenic bacteria is Georges Belfort, Ph.D. He and his team have been searching for a new therapy against the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB). It's a well-known, treatable disease, but resistant strains are cropping up. The World Health Organization estimates that about 170,000 people died from multidrug-resistant TB in 2012.

"If the bacteria build resistance to all current treatments, you're dead in the water," said Belfort, who is at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

To avoid this dire scenario, scientists are developing creative ways to battle the disease. In ongoing research, Belfort's group together with his wife, Marlene Belfort, and her group at the University at Albany are trying to dismantle bacteria from within. They also decided to attack it from the outside.

Read more:

Fighting antibiotic resistance with 'molecular drill bits'