Now, Drugs To Battle Antibiotic Resistance

Scientists have used large scale super-computer simulations to discover a new class of drugs that may combat antibiotic resistance on disease causing bacteria. Laboratory experiments were combined with super-computing modeling to identify molecules that boost the effect of antibiotics on bacteria. Researchers, including those from University of Oklahoma (OU) in the US, identified four new chemicals that seek out and disrupt bacterial proteins called “efflux pumps”, a major cause of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The supercomputing power of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Titan supercomputer allowed us to perform large scale simulations of the drug targets and to screen many potential compounds quickly. The information researchers received was combined with their experiments to select molecules that were found to work well, and this should drastically reduce the time needed to move from the experimental phase to clinical trials.