After first isolation of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1940, antibiotics have been one of the most important discoveries in clinical therapeutics. However, antibiotic resistance by bacteria and the limited number of effective antibiotics available decreases the number of effective interventions to tackle current bacterial infections. In our lab, with an aim of rehabilitation of the shelved out, inactive antibiotics, we are working on developing antibiotic adjuvants, i.e.

We have immensely contributed to the field of novel antibacterial agents through the development of new, amphiphilic, membrane-targeting agents which destabilize the bacterial membrane, as well as interact with bacterial cell wall, leading to selective bacterial killing. Our membrane-active small and macromolecules have demonstrated excellent activity against multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria and fungi with no detectable resistance development by the microbes. Some of our designs have been patented and are being tested for their antiviral effects too.

Glycopeptide antibiotics are an important class of antibiotics that inhibit bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. However, emergence of antibacterial resistance has posed a major threat towards this class of antibiotics. of A major aspect of our work involves undertaking synthetic modifications of such block-buster antibiotics such as vancomycin against which resistance has started to evolve, with the aim of restoring their activity, either by countering the resistance element, or by conferring additional mechanism of action.

Infectious diseases remain a major threat to global health and are now the world’s biggest killers, causing over 15 million deaths per year. The threat is compounded by the fact that an increasing percentage of pathogens are developing resistance against the available arsenal of drugs. Therefore there is an urgent need for a well-coordinated and integrated approach to tackle the threat of infectious diseases.

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The adenylate arm of purine nucleotide synthesis generates the TCA cycle intermediate fumarate. In P.

Enzymes under study have been human and P. falciparum HGPRT P. falciparum and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii adenylosuccinate synthetase, Legionella pneumophila cN-II, M. jannaschii GMPS, triosephosphate isomerase from different organisms using various tools of biochemistry, structural biology, Molecular Dynamics simulation, mass spectrometry, UV Resonance Raman spectroscopy.