U of C researchers win prize
Team seeks more precise ways of killing germs
Since the near-accidental discovery that mould could kill the bacteria implicated in countless human ailments, antibiotics have been hailed as a miracle drug.
But as bacteria adapt to our near 70-year-old wonder cure, Glen Armstrong, the head of the department of microbiology, immunity and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, takes one major exception to our coterie of germ- killing drugs: antibiotics are terribly unsophisticated.
“They are kind of like trying to dissect a Rolex watch with a sledge hammer. They just basically smash everything,” Armstrong said in an interview. “What we’re trying to do is go in with fine forceps, just look at the bad pathogenic bugs in there and squish them individually.”
That research won this year’s Brockhouse Prize, which recognizes interdisciplinary research in science and engineering, awarded in Ottawa on Monday.
Armstrong is part of a team, which includes U of C colleague Kenneth Ng and researchers at the University of Alberta, that is finding a more precise method to eliminate disease-causing microbes and viruses. It’s vital research. Due to over-prescription, common bacteria are starting to develop a resistance to common antibiotics. That’s forcing doctors to prescribe ever-more-potent pills.
“We’re actually doing (the research) in such a way that the bacteria are not going to have that evolutionary pressure,” Armstrong said.
The surface of a bacterium is like a microscopic forest, Armstrong explained. When the bugs enter the body, they stick to the distinct sugar structures that line the outside of healthy cells — like the rope of a ship being tied to the cleat on a dock.
Normally, these sugar patterns help the cells of organs to recognize each other and stick together.
“Microbes and viruses just exploit that whole system for their own devious ends,” Armstrong said.
As part of the team’s research, Armstrong grows bacteria and proteins and sends them to a colleague who specializes in studying the germs’ outer structures. He then creates a salt-crystal replica of the microbes and shoots X-rays through the structure. This produces a scatter pattern that can be reconstructed into a map of the germ’s surface, “right down to the individual atoms,” Armstrong said.
That data is then sent to the scientists’ colleagues at the University of Alberta. There, the synthetic carbohydrate chemists create minute sugar particles that perfectly fit the tiny atomic forests that coat the bac- teria. Armstrong hopes the method can be used to create treatments for viral and bacterial infections.
When a patient becomes ill, doctors could inject him with sugar molecules that stick to the offending bacteria like Velcro, turning a harmful bug into a benign one.
An early example of the treatment at work has been created. Armstrong said the team has developed a drug that sticks to the surface of a toxin created by E-coli infections.
The hypothesis is that “bugs won’t be able to become resistant to these drugs and if they do become resistant, it will be really, really interesting to see the mechanisms they use to get around the drugs we’re developing.”
Armstrong said he is humbled by the Brockhouse award, as it’s all part of a day’s work.
“Part of my job is to do research to come up with new, innovative ways to deal with problems,” he said. “When I get up every morning and go to work and go off to my job, that’s what I do.”
Another U of C researcher was also honoured for her work Monday.
Sheelagh Carpendale, a renowned leader in information visualization and interactive technologies in the faculty of science, is one of six researchers to win the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship.