Antimicrobial Discovery Center
The Antimicrobial Discovery Center(ADC) is a molecular microbiology group at Northeastern University studying bacterial persister cells, drug discovery, unculturable microorganisms, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.ADC in the News
Director Kim Lewis has received a $5.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate why antibiotics are not effective for certain infectious diseases. This was featured on the Northeastern University and the NIH websites.
Persister Cells
Persisters are bacterial cells able to survive killing by antibiotics. This antibiotic tolerance is mechanistically distinct from resistance. Persisters are not mutants but phenotypic variants.We are interested in genetic mechanism(s) underlying formation of persister fraction within genetically identical antibiotic-susceptible population of bacteria. Understanding these mechanisms is important in order to get a complete and realistic picture of pathogens during the infection and antibiotic treatement, especially in the case of chronic and relapsing infections. (more)
Drug Discovery
There are several formidable challenges in antimicrobial drug discovery that make this field intellectually appealing. First, there is an “innovation gap” – no new broad-spectrum class of antibiotics has been discovered in the past 40 years. Moreover no antibiotic has ever been able to completely sterilize an infection due to the presence of persisters cells. (more)
Unculturables
The Unculturables Group in the Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern University is focused on growing previously unculturable microorganisms, and identifying the molecular mechanisms responsible for uncultivability. Our work is based on the observation that the vast majority of microorganisms isolated from the environment do not grow in the lab, and are only known by there molecular signatures. This has dramatically limited the fraction of the microbial world that is available for study, and our goal is to gain access to the genetic and biochemical diversity that has been hidden by uncultivability. (more)