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| RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS |


process and suggest fewer than 50 distinct focal adhesion proteins. “We also confirmed that only seven of these proteins directly bind to paxillin, which is a credible number,” Manser says. The experiments also turned up a few


surprises. Paxillin was previously thought to sit on the cell surface or ‘plasma membrane’


— but the lack of tagged local membrane proteins indicated it lies some distance away. “The excitement is to develop a proteomic


technique that can actually give you much better resolution than optical super-resolution methods,” Manser says. Studies of other protein complexes are already underway.


1. Dong, J.-M., Tay, F. P.-L., Swa, H. L.-F., Gunaratne, J., Leung, T. et al. Proximity biotinylation provides insight into the molecular composition of focal adhesions at the nanometer scale. Science Signaling 9, rs4 (2016).


2. Roux, K. J., Kim, D. I., Raida, M. & Burke, B. A promiscuous biotin ligase fusion protein identifies proximal and interacting proteins in mammalian cells. The Journal of Cell Biology 196, 801–810 (2012).


Antimicrobial materials: KILLING BACTERIA IN SECONDS


A SYNTHETIC MATERIAL THAT KILLS COMMON BACTERIA IN SECONDS COULD HAVE FAR- REACHING APPLICATIONS IN HEALTHCARE AND DOMESTIC SETTINGS


Killing bacteria quickly and efficiently is key to tackling the spread of infections, but the recent increase in drug-resistant bacteria has made this task particularly challenging. Now, A*STAR researchers have developed a synthetic molecule capable of killing bacteria such as Escherichia coli in seconds, far more rapidly than any antimicrobial product, such as hand wash or surface spray, currently on the market1. The challenge for scientists is to create


antimicrobial agents capable of killing bacteria efficiently and effectively and yet are safe for humans. Synthetic oligomers — tiny complexes that consist of a few selected molecules bound together — can be structurally engineered to exhibit certain behavior and have proven to be promising antimicrobial candidates.


“WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON NOVEL ANTIMICRO- BIAL MATERIALS FOR SIX YEARS.”


“We’ve been working on novel


antimicrobial materials for six years,” says Yugen Zhang at the A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, who led the project in collaboration with scientists from Nanyang Technological University. “We


www.astar-research.com


A*STAR researchers have developed a synthetic molecular complex capable of destroying common bacteria in seconds. Above are E. coli cells before (left) and after (right) treatment with the new material, which works by penetrating and destroying the cells’ membranes.


had considerable success with our previous designs, but we wanted to further improve the speed at which our oligomers could destroy bacteria effectively.” Based on prior designs, the team


constructed seven new materials and tested their ability to destroy four common pathogens, including E. coli. First, they tested the materials for safety on mammalian cells. They then trialed the oligomers’ antimi- crobial activity, and analyzed how their dif- ferent structures affected their performance in


killing bacteria. The researchers identified one particular material, which exhibited superior efficacy compared to their other oligomer designs, and to existing antimicrobials. “When I first saw the results from our mate-


rial, I simply couldn’t believe it,” says Zhang. “It killed 99.7 per cent of E. coli in 30 seconds; an unprecedented result. We knew that the material’s physical properties played a significant role in these results, so we investigated how the oligomer interacted with the bacteria using computer-aided molecular simulations.”


A*STAR RESEARCH 31


© 2016 A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology


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