Anti Virulence Factor Project

Background Information
In a recent paper, Hung et al. describes a new strategy for developing anti-microbial drugs. An enzyme required for virulence in cholera was identified, cloned, and tested against a library of small molecules. A compound was found that, while it does not kill the cholera organisms, neutralizes their ability to cause disease. This strategy will be useful in combination therapies for bacterial disease, and for treating viruses, for which there are currently no effective antibiotic equivalents.

Research Problems and Goals

 * Identify prevalent organism dependent on a virulence promoter to cause disease.


 * Clone relevant regulatory gene into more mass-production friendly organism, such as yeast or bacteria, in order to produce the protein in high enough quantities for mass production.


 * Obtain library of small molecule compounds that will serve as potential drugs.


 * Develop screening assay for inhibitor potency.


 * Perform high-throughput screening on compound library to determine which potential drugs are most active against the protein.