The UNLV American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Student Chapter invites a speaker to present at the Biology Friday Seminar Series each year.

Dr. Corrie Detweiler, from the University of Colorado Boulder, will deliver a lecture titled, A Chemical Genetics Approach to Bacterial Pathogenesis. Dr. Detweiler's research investigates the pressing unmet need for new antibiotics, particularly for Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. To identify probes of the host-pathogen interface that may have antibiotic potential, we developed a quantitative, high throughput, phenotypic screen for small molecules that prevent the growth of Salmonella enterica in macrophages, a kind of white blood cell that kills non-pathogenic bacteria. We screened the 14,400 compounds of the Maybridge HitFinder Library, a collection of compounds with drug-like properties. This approach identified 70 compounds that reduce bacterial load but were not previously known to have antibacterial activity. We verified 60 of the hits in a secondary screen that quantifies bacterial colony form­ing units by plating lysed macrophages. Only three of these hits inhibited bacterial growth in standard microbiological media, indicating the remain­der function specifically in the context of an infected macrophage. I will describe the screening platform and present the results of our recent studies characterizing top hits.