NIH Research Festival
–
Widespread antimicrobial resistance is dwindling the supply of effective drugs. Natural products research helps bolster drug discovery efforts by identifying bioactive metabolites from diverse environments. My research project focused on a soil bacterium with antibacterial and antifungal activity. By extracting and purifying organic extracts via high-performance liquid chromatography and monitoring organic compounds by spectroscopic methods, I determined the structure of a known antifungal tetraene called Tetrin B. Additional rounds of purification coupled with antimicrobial bioassays against clinically relevant pathogens revealed another secondary metabolite with broad spectrum bioactivity. Further spectroscopic analysis and natural products database searches will determine this compound's novelty.
Scientific Focus Area: Chemical Biology
This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 6, 2024