ISB News

Baliga Lab: New Publication in ‘Nature Microbiology’

The Baliga Lab and colleagues at Center for Infectious Disease Research published (online in advance of print) this landmark study today in the journal Nature Microbiology:

Seattle researchers created a genetic blueprint of the cunning tuberculosis bacteria, then used it to predict and rank potential drug targets

3 Bullets:

  • Researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology and Center for Infectious Disease Research have deciphered how the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis is able to tolerate the recently approved FDA drug
  • The study demonstrated that silencing certain regulatory genes in the bacteria, or pairing with a second drug pretomanid, disrupts a tolerance gene network to improve efficacy of killing by bedaquiline.
  • This systems-approach to rational drug discovery represents significant advance in the fight against tuberculosis, which affects a third of the global population, surpassing HIV/AIDS in the number of deaths worldwide.

Read the full summary

 

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