{"id":379,"date":"2017-01-13T10:03:18","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T10:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/?page_id=379"},"modified":"2024-06-14T08:56:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T07:56:35","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/?page_id=379","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h4><em><strong>Research\u00a0Scope<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n<p>The rapid emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria is a major global concern. A 2014 report by the UK government estimates\u00a0that by 2050, antibiotic resistance will cause 300 million premature deaths, result in a loss of up to $100 trillion from the global economy and cause more premature deaths than\u00a0cancer. Therefore, there is a pertinent need for new antimicrobial compounds and targets.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong><em>New Tools for New Targets<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-20-at-10.54.38.png\" alt=\"Generic picture of enzyme-mediated glycolipid flipping across a cell membrane\" width=\"402\" height=\"307\" \/><\/em><\/strong><strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\nBacteria produce several\u00a0polysaccharides that are essential to their structural integrity, including peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccharide. As the enzymes and intermediates involved in their biosynthesis are unique to bacteria, they are\u00a0excellent antibiotic targets. Our lab\u00a0uses the tools of\u00a0<strong><em>organic synthesis\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>to prepare glycolipid\u00a0substrates for probing the <em><strong>mechanism of action<\/strong><\/em> of these enzymes, as well as using structure-activity relationship\u00a0studies to guide\u00a0<em><strong>inhibitor design<\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0with the goal of\u00a0developing new antibiotic candidates.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h4><em><strong>New Antibiotics<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-20-at-11.37.16.png\" alt=\"ChemDraw structure of interesting structures in antimicrobial peptides\" width=\"428\" height=\"153\" \/>Antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria\u00a0are becoming increasingly important in the fight against multidrug\u00a0resistance. These compounds typically target bacterial cell membranes, and as it is difficult for bacteria to reorganize their membranes, resistance development is often limited. Our lab develops\u00a0<em><strong>new synthetic methods<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>to access novel antimicrobial peptides, allowing their antimicrobial and\/or anticancer activities to be explored. We also use\u00a0<strong><em>molecular biology<\/em><\/strong> and\u00a0<strong><em>bioinformatics<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to identify the mechanism by which they exert their therapeutic effect.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/EPSRC-300x75.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"392\" height=\"98\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/b4\/UKRI_BBSR_Council-Logo_Horiz-RGB.png\" alt=\"File:UKRI BBSR Council-Logo Horiz-RGB.png - Wikipedia\" width=\"406\" height=\"98\" aria-hidden=\"false\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/0\/0c\/UKRI-Logo_Horiz-RGB.png\" alt=\"File:UKRI-Logo Horiz-RGB.png - Wikipedia\" width=\"399\" height=\"118\" aria-hidden=\"false\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/images.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/images.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bafta.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/showcase_gallery\/public\/externals\/004d8cd0f5407c65c8c415fb44a667f8.jpg?itok=eRRaBc_R\" alt=\"The Wellcome Trust | BAFTA\" width=\"323\" height=\"181\" aria-hidden=\"false\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/__data\/assets\/image\/0004\/116905\/royal-society-logo.jpg\" alt=\"Major success as Dr Timothy Easun and Dr Ceri Hammond are awarded Royal Society Fellowships - Newyddion - Prifysgol Caerdydd\" width=\"313\" height=\"176\" aria-hidden=\"false\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/8\/86\/Department_for_Economy_NI_Logo.svg\/1200px-Department_for_Economy_NI_Logo.svg.png\" alt=\"Department for the Economy - Wikipedia\" width=\"328\" height=\"108\" aria-hidden=\"false\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research\u00a0Scope The rapid emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria is a major global concern. A 2014 report by the UK government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-379","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1212,"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/379\/revisions\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cochranelab.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}