Researchers from Ben-Gurion University (BGU), together with American and German colleagues, have developed new “molecular tweezers” to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Their recently announced findings were published in Cell Chemical Biology.
For years, medical professionals have struggled with bacterial infections becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. These molecular tweezers may be the key to battling one of greatest public health issues of the 21st century.
“Our discovery prevents infection without building up antibiotic resistance, and it might even be preferable to develop treatments based on molecular tweezers rather than antibiotics,” said BGU Department of Chemistry Prof. Raz Jelinek.
The research team, led by Prof. Jelinek and his Ph.D. student Ravit Malishev, tested their molecular tweezers on the Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) bacteria. In the U.S. staph infections have an estimated mortality rate of over 25%, and 40% for drug-resistant strains.
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Cell Chemical Biology. Researc Paper: