Email to a friend Molecular technique shows promise in
destroying drug resistance in bacteria photo to enlarge by Kwame
Ross professor Paul Hergenrother, second from right, and
graduate students, from left, Jason R. Thomas, Johna C.B. DeNap
and Dinty J. Musk have discovered a new approach to outwit
resistance to antibiotics. Ill. — A new approach to outwit
resistance to antibiotics has been discovered by a team of
researchers at the University of Illinois By inserting a
naturally occurring molecule into an antibiotic-resistant
bacterium, the team was able to gradually destroy the machinery
responsible for the resistance. “Multidrug-resistant bacteria
are now ubiquitous in both hospital settings and the larger
community,” wrote Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of
chemistry, in a paper that appeared online ahead of publication
in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. “Clearly, new
strategies and targets are needed to combat drug-resistant
bacteria.” Antibiotic resistance makes it difficult to fight inf