The Medical Schools Council today published a report showcasing the work from UK Universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic, including from the GibsonGroup

Congratulations go to Dr Christine Lockey, who has been announced as a Faculty Post-Doctoral Research Prize winner for “Best Warwick affiliated research output in 2020”.

When biological material is frozen, cryoprotectants are used to prevent ice damage. How do newly emerging polymeric cryoprotectants control ice formation and growth during freezing?

The discovery of how hormone-like molecules turn on antibiotic production in soil bacteria could unlock the untapped opportunities for medicines that are under our very feet.

An international team of scientists working in the Department of Chemistry, the School of Life Sciences and the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre at the University of Warwick, UK, and Monash University, Australia, have determined the molecular basis of a biological mechanism that could enable more efficient and cost-effective production of existing antibiotics, and also allow scientists to uncover new antibiotics in soil bacteria.

It is detailed in a new study published in the journal Nature.

A new biotechnology company, CryoLogyx, has been spun-out from the department, supported from a grant from InnovateUK. Cryologyx will be led by Dr Tom Congdon (A UoW UG and PG alumus) and will exploit technology developed by the GibsonGroup. Cryologyx will use innovative macromolecular (polymeric) cryoprotectants to protect biological samples, including cells used in therapy, diagnostics and drug discovery.

Read the news story here and more details will be released soon.

Resistance has emerged to vancomycin, a last-resort antibiotic for treatment of MRSA. The VanSR regulatory system induces expression of resistance genes upon exposure; however, the mechanism of vancomycin detection was unclear. Through solution NMR and other biophysical methods, we reveal a direct interaction between vancomycin and the extracellular domain of VanS from Streptomyces coelicolor. The VanS-binding epitope within vancomycin was mapped to a region distinct from the binding site for Lipid II. In targeting a separate site, the effective VanS ligand concentration includes both free and lipid-bound molecules, facilitating VanS activation. This is the first molecular description of the VanS/vancomycin interface, and could direct engineering of future therapeutics.

• The pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is one of three highest priority pathogens identified by WHO (World Health Organisation) for which new antibiotics are urgently needed
• Understanding the enzymes that assemble antibiotics which can kill the pathogen is key to altering their structures to target the pathogen more effectively

Researchers at the University of Warwick have made a breakthrough in understanding the functions and structures of key enzymes in the assembly of an antibiotic with activity against the pathogen, which could enable more effective versions to be created

For the full article, see here.

Congratulations to Dr Matthew Jenner, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, who has been awarded a BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship.

Full press release here

Peptide-mimetic metallohelices bind Alzheimer protein and extend life in an insect model

The GibsonGroup report in Angewandte Chemie a new macromolecular ‘antifreeze’ which improves the cryopreservation of cells