Scientists have developed a new method for rapidly making cyclic peptides<\/a> \u2013 an essential type of antibiotic molecule.<\/p>\nThe innovative process takes just minutes instead of hours and even days, which it traditionally takes, significantly speeding up antibiotic development.<\/p>\n
Lead author Dr Sarah Barry, from the Department of Chemistry at King’s College London, explained: “The global rise in antimicrobial-resistant infections is putting the huge gains in modern medicine over the last century at risk.<\/p>\n
“Everything from a cut in your finger to major surgery or cancer treatment requires the use of antibiotics. But when bacteria and viruses evolve to evade these medicines, these life-saving drugs lose their effectiveness.<\/p>\n
“We urgently need to invest in antibiotic development \u2013 and we hope that breakthroughs like our new method at King’s can inspire renewed efforts towards this goal.”<\/p>\n
Challenges in antibiotic development<\/h3>\n Developing novel antibiotics is essential, with the rise of AMR making infectious diseases that were once easy to treat increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n
Modifying and creating new antibiotics to combat resistance is challenging due to their complex molecular structure.<\/p>\n
This is because some are formed of cyclic peptides, which are strings of amino acids joined in a circle. Recreating them in a lab is extremely difficult.<\/p>\n
A new method for producing cyclic peptides<\/h3>\n The scientists studied a naturally occurring cyclic peptide with promising activity against the bacteria causing TB, the world’s deadliest and increasingly resistant infectious disease.<\/p>\n
They discovered that using the natural peptide’s amino acid sequence to create synthetic peptides allowed these peptides to form cycles rapidly.<\/p>\n
The researchers believe this straightforward method can be applied to modify antimicrobial molecules, paving the way for new antibiotic development.<\/p>\n
Dr Yaoyu Ding, a Research Assistant who’s PhD was based on the project, added: “We have made a key part of the chemistry involved in making these molecules far easier and quicker.<\/p>\n
“We hope that this chemistry will enable researchers to make libraries of derivates to enable screening for new antimicrobials.”<\/p>\n
The team has also tested this method on other types of peptides, opening possibilities for other classes of drugs, such as anti-cancer agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Experts at King College London have created a new method to develop cyclic peptides that could pioneer new antibiotics to combat AMR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":48420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10551],"tags":[24360,3512],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Cyclic peptides discovery to develop new antibiotics to fight AMR<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n