Behind the Scenes: Chemistry@Warwick

Session Content: Harnessing bacterial megamachines to make new drugs

Many of the drugs prescribed by doctors to treat bacterial infections today were originally discovered in soil bacteria. Unfortunately resistance to currently available antibiotics is now a global problem resulting in millions of deaths worldwide. We will show you how our research groups are finding new antibiotics from bacteria and, by understanding and harnessing the complex molecular machines they use to make them, adapting these antibiotics for use in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Academic Bio – Dr Lona Alkhalaf obtained an MChem in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology from the University of Liverpool and a PhD in Chemical Biology from the University of Warwick, where she worked on bacterial enzymes involved in making a natural pesticide. She then moved to Vancouver to work at the University of British Columbia on how an antibiotic produced by a bacterium works to treat the infection. She now works in the group of Professor Challis at the University of Warwick on understanding how all kinds of chemicals are made by bacteria, including those with antibiotic, anticancer and antiviral activity.