Novel Antimicrobials for Eye Infections

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Novel Antimicrobials for Eye Infections ABSTRACT Bacterial eye infections frequently arise as a complication of corrective surgery or contact lens use. A growing number of such incidents fail to respond to available antibiotics resulting in irreversible eye damage and vision loss. Identification of new antibacterial compounds is urgently needed. This project pursues the development of antimicrobials against a novel target, bacterial condensins. Condensins play a central role in global chromosome organization and contribute to faithful segregation of genetic information in diverse organisms. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, condensins regulate switching between planktonic and sessile phenotypes and are required for virulence during eye infection. This project seeks to validate condensins as a plausible drug target and develop small molecule condensin inhibitors. The primary focus will be on P. aeruginosa. However, the inhibitors display activity against other pathogens as well.