Journal article
Star-Peptide Polymers are Multi-Drug-Resistant Gram-Positive Bacteria Killers
W Li, S Hadjigol, AR Mazo, J Holden, J Lenzo, SJ Shirbin, A Barlow, S Shabani, T Huang, EC Reynolds, GG Qiao, NM O'Brien-Simpson
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces | AMER CHEMICAL SOC | Published : 2022
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance in bacteria, especially Gram-positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, is gaining considerable momentum worldwide and unless checked will pose a global health crisis. With few new antibiotics coming on the market, there is a need for novel antimicrobial materials that target and kill multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Gram-positive pathogens like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In this study, using a novel mixed-bacteria antimicrobial assay, we show that the star-peptide polymers preferentially target and kill Gram-positive pathogens including MRSA. A major effect on the activity of the star-peptide polymer was structure, with an eight-armed structure in..
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Grants
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and Australian Research Council (ARC) are thanked for financial support over many years for the peptide chemistry and chemical biology studies reported in the authors' laboratories. N.M.O.-S. is the recipient of NHMRC funding (APP1142472, APP1158841, and APP1185426), ARC funding (DP210102781, DP160101312, LE200100163), Cancer Council Victoria funding (APP1163284), and Australian Dental Research Funding in antimicrobial materials and research is supported by the Centre for Oral Health Research at The Melbourne Dental School. We acknowledge the Melbourne Cytometry Platform (Melbourne Dental School, The University of Melbourne) for provision of flow cytometry services. The HIM work and fluorescent imaging was carried out in part at the Materials Characterisation and Fabrication Platform (MCFP) at the University of Melbourne and the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).