JPIAMR 14th Call Partner Search Tool

General Information

• Project title: Identification of novel sulfonamides that can evade resistance
• Type: Project looking for partner
• Organisation: University of Toronto
• Country: Canada (CA)

Research area

• Scientific area(s) of the call:
  1. Improvement of drug/plant protection agent efficacy and/or specificity through chemical modifications (including hit to lead optimisation)
  2. Optimisation of drug/plant protection agent combinations, alone or with adjunct therapies (including therapeutic vaccines)
• One Health Setting:

  Human Health Animal Health (including wild-life, livestock, fishes, and companion animals) Plants (including trees and crops)

• Type of studies/experimental approaches:

  in silico, in vitro, in vivo preclinical and clinical studies in human and in all veterinary settings

• Keywords:

  sulfonamides; overcoming resistance; chemical biology; structure-based drug design; chemical synthesis

• Brief description of your expertise / expertise you are looking for:

  Our lab specializes in structure-function studies of antibacterial and antifungal drug targets, as well as resistance determinants i.e. antibiotic-modifying enzymes. We participate in the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases (CSGID), funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) USA. We have determined more than 200 crystal structures and are one of the most pre-eminent centers for structural biology of AMR. We have more than 40+ years of expertise in: -protein purification -protein crystallization -cryo-EM -protein 3D structure determination and analysis -drug + drug target complex structure determination and analysis -structure-activity-relationships -in vitro activity assay development -3D structure modeling -docking, virtual screening -antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) We are looking for expertise in: *chemical synthesis / medicinal chemists capable of synthesizing new sulfonamides via structure-guided data we will provide *antimicrobial susceptibility testing against clinical isolates of pathogens, including those harboring sul genes *efficacy testing in the context of infection models (i.e. mouse models) where pathogenic species harbors sul genes

• Brief description of your project / the project you would like to join:

  Sulfonamides are the first synthetic antimicrobial and one of the oldest classes of antimicrobial in general. They are used in human and veterinary medicine for treatment of pneumonia, meningitis, UTS, bronchitis and other indications. Their utility is compromised by resistance conferred by the so-called sul genes which are widespread on mobile genetic elements in pathogenic species. We have elucidated the structural and molecular basis for resistance conferred by Sul enzymes. Using this information, we intend to synthesize new sulfonamides that would overcome resistance conferred by these enzymes. We have in vitro assays in place to test for target engagement of sulfonamides and also an E. coli cell line to use for antimicrobial susceptibility tests. To expand the project, we are looking for expertise in: *chemical synthesis / medicinal chemists capable of synthesizing new sulfonamides via structure-guided data we will provide *antimicrobial susceptibility testing against clinical isolates of pathogens, including those harboring sul genes *efficacy testing in the context of infection models (i.e. mouse models) where pathogenic species harbors sul genes

Peter Stogios

• Organisation: University of Toronto
• Position: Senior Research Associate
• E-mail: p.stogios@utoronto.ca
• Web: www.biozone.utoronto.ca