Nanostructures as Antibacterial Agents

Role of Supramolecular Morphology in Biological Action

Seminar given by  Martin Conda-Sheridan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Omaha, NE

Abstract: The development of bacterial resistant strains to traditional antibiotics is a global health concern. Designing new antibacterial agents is essential to fight this serious thread. In this seminar, I will describe the potential of nanostructures made of cationic peptide amphiphiles (PAs) as new entities to deal with bacterial infections. I will show the antimicrobial action of the nanostructures against gram-positive, and gram-negative bacteria, and against mammalian cells. I will also discuss the effect that supramolecular morphology has on antimicrobial action. I will describe the key parameters to design better antimicrobials.  Finally, I will present the mechanism of action of the new entities and future directions of the project.