International Media covers the Morbidostat Project with Erdal Toprak
International press covered the “Morbidostat” project developed by Erdal Toprak, Faculty Member of Sabancı University in collaboration with Roy Kishony of Harvard University to monitor in real time the process of resistance building in bacteria against antibiotics.
Assistant Prof. Erdal Toprak, Sabancı University and Prof. Roy Kishnoy, Harvard Medical School, have developed a device which they call “Morbidostat”. This device will be used for gaining a better understanding on the resistance building phases that t bacteria pass through in clinical environments. This device enables the real time monitoring of the resistance building process of the bacteria.
Morbidostat Project
It is known that many antibiotics are rendered useless when bacteria gain resistance to their active agents. Although there is continuous research for new antibiotic actives to overcome this problem, natural and financial restrictions lead to very few new drugs developed in recent years. Currently, the most effective means of overcoming this problem is to increase the efficacy of existing drugs. Experts believe that this is tied to a molecular-level understanding of the process with which bacteria gain resistance.
Experiments by the team using the morbidostat revealed that the Escherichia coli bacteria, which have no drug resistances, became resistant by hundreds of times in only three weeks. Bacterial mutations and the order of these mutations were identified by whole genome sequencing. The study showed that bacteria could become much more resistant with the change of only 3 or 4 nucleotides, and that the mutations could occur only in a certain order. The discovery of the order in which bacteria must mutate to become drug-resistance offers insight into the strategies for the fight against drug-resistant bacteria.
Publications:
Science Newsline:
http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2013020122460010.html
Press News:
http://press-news.org/89527-tracking-the-evolution-of-antibiotic-resistance.html
Medical News Today:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/255804.php
Toronto Telgraph:
http://www.torontotelegraph.com/index.php/sid/212332338/scat/6dcd932030878143
Innovations Report:
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/medicine_health/tracking_evolution_antibiotic_resistance_209021.html
Fierce Health IT:
http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/device-helps-researchers-track-antibiotic-resistance-gene-level/2013-02-04
News Wise:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/tracking-the-evolution-of-antibiotic-resistance