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New drugs? New biofuels? First we have to understand the basic molecular science.
By Melanie Tromp
Boraston
Holder of UVic’s Canada Research Chair in Molecular Interactions, biochemist Alisdair Boraston is primarily concerned with the smaller things in life.
“Pretty much every biological process on the planet involves molecular interactions,” says Boraston, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology and an international leader in the study of how carbohydrates interact with proteins.
One branch of Boraston’s research is investigating how these interactions are involved in bacterial illnesses. An understanding of how carbohydrates are “recognized” by proteins is central to designing new drugs and treatments for disease.
Boraston and his team are concentrating on the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, a superbug responsible for pneumonia, bacterial meningitis, ear infections and other diseases.
A superbug is a drug-resistant bacterium. The Strep. pneumoniae bacterium is one of the world’s leading causes of death from infectious disease, particularly in children and the elderly.
“When you get a drug-resistant strain of Strep. pneumoniae, what do you do about it?” asks Boraston. “We need some alternate ways to treat these infections.”
A recent breakthrough in his research may lead to such a treatment—one that can prevent the spread of the bacterium in the body without the use of typical antibiotics.
Boraston and his team recently verified that Strep. pneumoniae uses a specialized protein that targets the cells responsible for creating a soap-like protective coating in human lungs. This film keeps the lungs inflated and doubles as their number-one guard against attacking bacteria and other microbes.
“The next step is to figure out how to inhibit the action of the protein so that it can slow down or altogether prevent the germ from targeting these vital cells,” says Boraston.
Such a breakthrough would be the first step in developing a drug treatment that would give the body’s immune system more time to fight the infection—an approach similar to current methods of treating the flu.
Boraston was recently named a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar to continue his investigations into how Strep. pneumoniae proteins interact with lung cells.
Despite the 90 forms of this bacterium out there, public concern has recently been focused on a specific strain of Strep. pneumoniae called 19A, which is resistant to all known pediatric antibiotics and is not covered by current childhood vaccinations.
Because there is a known link between Strep. pneumoniae and the flu virus, a flu outbreak or pandemic could create a resurgence of this bacterium in the wider community. “If there are drug-resistant strains within that spread, we’re in trouble,” says Boraston.
Childhood vaccinations cover the seven most risky strains of Strep. pneumoniae, a medical practice that has caused the incidence of those types to decline. “But what about the other 83, or maybe more?” he asks.
“I am 100-per-cent behind vaccine research and making it better. But we also have to get prepared for issues like disease replacement, antibiotic resistance and things like flu pandemics. This bug is constantly fighting back against us.”
About one-third of Boraston’s time is spent in a completely different arena—investigating complex carbohydrates in plants, including cellulose—the most abundant biopolymer in the world.
When plant cells die or are eaten by animals, enzymes produced by microbes break down the complex sugars found in plant cell walls. The smaller sugar fragments are then used as an energy source by the microbe.
“This process is extremely important to the planet’s carbon cycle, and it also has promise when harnessed for the production of biofuels from cellulose,” says Boraston. He and his team are trying to understand how microbial enzymes recognize the sugars in plant cell walls.
While it’s very fundamental research at this stage, what Boraston finds out may one day be used to improve the processes involved in making biofuels. “It’s exciting to look at alternative fuels at such a fundamental level,” he says.
Boraston’s work is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund.
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