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Antimicrobial resistance has become a growing concern due to the potential lethality of infections caused by resistant bacteria. To address this problem, Dr Li's research focuses on the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are part of the host's natural defense system and have potent antimicrobial activity with a reduced tendency to induce resistance. The goal is to develop novel alternative antibiotics by chemically modifying AMPs to enhance their effectiveness and result in significant conformational changes.
Several promising native AMPs, including Chex1-Arg20, pardaxin, and magainin, have been identified, but their stability and strong haemolytic activity make them challenging to translate and apply pharmacologically. Therefore, the research group aims to investigate the activity of these AMPs and chemically modify them to enhance their potency against pathogenic bacteria.
Exploring the Antimicrobial Efficacy of Plant Defensins
Plants produce different antimicrobial peptides, for protection against pathogens. Plant defensins are small proteins with a rigid structure held together by four disulphide bonds. These defensins offer broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties and various biological functions, such as immune regulation, angiogenesis, wound healing and antitumor activity. In this project, we aim to assess the antimicrobial activity of defensins against bacteria and fungi in the established larval model.
Antimicrobial Peptide Multimerization
This project involves the multimerization of AMPs to confer improved properties on other AMPs by enhancing their cationic charge and improving their interaction with bacterial membranes. The research team has developed a series of new dimeric AMPs to target WHO priority critical Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, such as A.
Antimicrobial Peptide-Antibiotic Conjugates
The second project aims to prepare antimicrobial peptide-antibiotic conjugates to contend with multi-drug-resistant bacteria by using combinations of conventional antibiotics with AMPs.