| Affiliations: | |
| Project Leader: | Adam Salazar isayni2u@tamu.edu Genetics IDP; TIGGS, Biochemistry and Biophysics |
| Faculty Mentor: | James Sacchettini, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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Fall 2016: Mon 10:00-10:30 AM |
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Team Size:
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4 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Being part of an elite research team, possibility of preferentially joining future ARP projects, mastering basic microbiology techniques |
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Team Needs:
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Must be committed to weekly schedule; Microbiological practice generally requires a small-moderate input of time over many days! General microbiology lab coursework, isolation of clonal bacteria, pouring agar media plates, aseptic tequnique, working with biological safety hoods, BSL2 certification, working with liquid bacterial cultures |
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Description:
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M. tuberculosis is an opportunistic human pathogen responsible for infecting nearly 1/3 of the world’s population (CDC, 2015). The recent emergence of multi-drug and pan-drug resistance in Mtb to classical antibiotics has highlighted a pressing need to explore the development of novel antibiotic drugs with new targets. In this project, we will attempt to determine the enzymatic target(s) of candidate novel antibiotics. First, we will isolate resistant mutants of a fast growing mycobacterial species to Mtb active compounds by traditional microbiological techniques. Once mutants have been isolated, we will genetically characterize isolates by preparing high quality DNA for illumina “”next gen”” sequencing and mapping resulting sequenced reads to the parental genome. The location and type of mutation will likely reveal the candidate drug target. This project will likely span multiple semesters. |