OHAMR Call for proposals 2026

General Information

• Type: Partner looking for project
• Organisation: Israel Institute of Technology - Technion, Faculty of Chemistry, Haifa
• Country: Israel (IL)
• Career stage: Other.

Research area

• Scientific area(s) of the call:
  1. Topic 1: Identify and develop new combination treatments using existing or innovative antimicrobials or antimicrobial with adjunctive treatments to extend drug efficacy and combat resistance.
• One Health Setting:

  H - Human Health

• Keywords:

  catalytic antibiotics; antibiotics targeting bacterial ribosome; aminoglycoside antibiotics; rational drug design; rRNA degradation

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

  We are interested in collaboration with (1) specialists in rational drug design, especially in molecular dynamic simulations of complex systems like small molecules with the entire bacterial ribosome, or ribosomal particles, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics simulations of the targeted drug conjugates. (2) Three-dimensional structure studies (preferably cryo-EM) of small molecule-ribosome interactions and the mechanism of catalysis. (3) Antibacterial and other sophisticated microbiology tests of the large panels of resistant, and pathogenic bacterial strains including ESCAPE bacteria.

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

  Herein, we propose the development of “catalytic antibiotics” as a new paradigm in antibacterial treatment. In this approach, a conventional antibiotic, serving as a selective binding domain to its biological target, is modified to incorporate a catalytic warhead that irreversibly inactivates one target molecule per catalytic cycle. By promoting multiple catalytic turnovers, catalytic antibiotics could operate in sub stoichiometric manner in contrast to traditional antibiotics that act on their targets through reversible or irreversible single binding events. This concept offers several potential advantages, including: (i) enhanced antibacterial activity at lower doses, minimizing side effects, (ii) activity against drug-resistant bacteria, and (iii) reduced potential for new resistance emergence. As a model platform, we focus on aminoglycosides, a well-established and clinically relevant, ribosome-targeting family of antibiotics. By integrating catalytic functionality into the oligosaccharide scaffold, our objective is to engineer catalytic aminoglycosides that combine the high-affinity target recognition of the parent compounds with enhanced catalytic activity. This strategy aligns with broader goals of OHAMR to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Timor Baasov, PhD

• Organisation: Israel Institute of Technology - Technion, Faculty of Chemistry, Haifa
• Position: University Professor
• E-mail: chtimor@technion.ac.il
• Phone: (+972)-544252299
• Web: chemistry.technion.ac.il/en/team/timor-baasov/