The Effector Trap: A New Tool for Virulence Factor Discovery

The accelerating prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains is an increasing public health problem. While the emergence of resistant strains is unavoidable, it is exacerbated by the widespread use, inappropriate prescription and misuse of antibiotics. Development of new antibiotics is slow and costly. One alternative to antibiotics is the development of antimicrobials that target the bacteria virulence factors. Such drugs will exert a milder selection pressure and should reduce the likelihood of development of resistant sub-populations. Resodyn Corporation proposes to develop an"Effector Trap": a new platform and a packaging that will allow a rapid and efficient isolation of virulence factors from multiple bacteria by exposing them artificially to the cues they normally encounter in vivo. The platform setup will allow for direct recovery of concentrated solutions containing the virulence factors, providing targets for the development of virulence factor-based antimicrobial compounds.x