Objective
The rapid emergence of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotic drugs has motivated interest in the development of new methods of treatment. In natural systems, antibiotic peptides are part of the first line immunological defence against bacterial infection. These peptides, often having an amphipathic helical structure are believed to exert their effect by the selective disruption of bacterial cell membranes. As this mode of action is not conducive to the development of resistance, they have generated great interest as potential therapeutics. While peptides often have properties such as immunogenicity and instability in vivo that do not favour their development as drugs, it should be possible to design structural analogues with more desirable properties, while maintaining similar or higher activity than the natural peptide antibiotics.
The team of Ivan Huc at the European Institute of Chemistry and Biology (IECB) has prepared aromatic oligoamides that fold to form very stable helices in solution. These molecules are versatile scaffolds that are easily prepared synthetically and are expected to be very stable to chemical and biological conditions. Therefore, the goal of this project is to design and synthesize membrane-active antibacterial analogues of these molecules and to study their interactions with membranes using a variety of chemical and biological techniques including NMR, molecular imaging, molecular modelling, phospholipid vesicle models, and bacterial cell culture.
These studies will be carried out through collaborations between the Huc group and other teams at the IECB. The results of the project are expected to increase our fundamental understanding of the interaction of amphipathic helices with membranes and to aid in the development of a new class of antimicrobial therapeutics. Furthermore, this project will facilitate the initiation of long-term international collaborations between the researcher and several groups at the IECB.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs antibiotics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-7
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
IIF - Marie Curie actions-Incoming International Fellowships
Coordinator
TALENCE
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.