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SUMMARY:Chemical Engineering Seminars - Antibiotic Probiotics Reduce Patho
 gen Counts in Host GI Tracts
DTSTART:20160601T161500
DTEND:20160601T171500
DTSTAMP:20260408T071236Z
UID:a12941a4f19847edb319b93b9bb23b4578a9e214c1f745ab189e4cc5
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Yiannis N. Kaznessis\nFoodborne gastrointestinal infecti
 ons are significant causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Alarmingl
 y\, often because of the extensive\, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in
  agriculture\, foodborne bacteria are emerging that are resistant to our m
 ost potent drugs.  We will discuss a new approach to reduce the use of an
 tibiotics in food-producing animals and to treat gastrointestinal infectio
 ns. We engineer probiotic\, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that express and re
 lease antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). LAB are part of the gastrointestinal 
 microflora and can be safely delivered with known benefits to humans and a
 nimals. AMPs are proteins that can be readily produced by LAB. One unique 
 aspect of our approach is the use of synthetic promoters that precisely re
 gulate the delivery of AMP molecules.\nAt the heart of proposed efforts ar
 e multiscale models that guide explanations and predictions of the antagon
 istic activity of recombinant LAB against pathogenic strains. Models are d
 eveloped to quantify how AMPs kill bacteria at distinct but tied scales. U
 sing atomistic simulations the various interaction steps between peptides 
 and cell membranes are explored. Mesoscopic models are developed to study 
 ion transport and depolarization of membranes treated with AMPs. Stochasti
 c kinetic models are developed to quantify the strength of synthetic promo
 ters and AMPs expression.\nExperimentally\, we engineer lactic acid bacter
 ia to inducibly produce antimicrobial peptides. We have developed a librar
 y of synthetic biological constructs. We test modified bacteria against pa
 thogenic bacteria. We will present in vitro results against salmonella and
  enterococcus. We will also present proof-of-concept results of in vivo st
 udies with turkey poults and mice.
LOCATION:CH B3 30 http://plan.epfl.ch/?room=CH%20B3%2030
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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