Ten Waterloo researchers are receiving seed funding from the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology (CBB).
The funding
will
support
the
collaboration
of
multi-disciplinary
research
teams across
Waterloo
faculties
and
departments, with
the
goal
of
propelling
scientific
innovation
and
growth,
and
mentoring
the
next
generation
of
researchers.
Their project entitled, "Structural studies of bacterial IgA1 proteases," will use x-ray crystallography, enzymekinetics, and medicinal chemistry approaches to understand the IgAPs-IgA1 structure-function relations. The results will lay the foundation for the development of selective inhibitors that can ultimately be used as novel antibacterial pharmaceutical agents for use in the treatment of infections caused by these pathogens.
Haemophilus influenza, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Streptococcus pneumoniae are presently on the World Health Organization priority pathogen list for research and development of new antibiotics. The imunoglobulin A1 proteases (IgAPs) are enzymes that play a role in the virulence of some of these human pathogens. Currently, there is relatively little information on the structure and mechanisms of these enzyme substrates and within the protease family.
This is the second round of funding awarded under the program, which debuted last year. Professors Shirley Tang of Chemistry and Jonathan Blay of the School of Pharmacy were among the first round of recipients for their project entitled, "Bioprinter and bioink formulation for the printing of authentic 3D colorectal tumor models."