By Janan Shoja Doost
A University of Guelph researcher is developing more effective strategies for combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and drug-resistant bacterial infections.
Dr. Georgina Cox, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Science, and her team are studying the role of efflux pumps in E. coli, a type of gram-negative bacteria, to better understand how these pumps contribute to AMR.
Efflux pumps expel antibiotics from bacterial cells, making it challenging to treat infections effectively.
“We aim to understand the molecular mechanistic underpinnings of resistance mechanisms, with a focus on circumventing the barriers posed by efflux pumps to develop more effective antimicrobial agents,” says Cox.
Since publishing two studies in 2022 on efflux pumps and how they function in E. coli bacteria to contribute to antibiotic resistance, Cox and her team are concentrating on gram-negative organisms. They focus primarily on E. coli, whose strong outer-membrane barriers and effective drug efflux pumps make it especially difficult to target with new antibiotics.
The team’s research seeks to identify the physicochemical properties of compounds that efflux pumps commonly expel, which could guide the design of antibiotics capable of bypassing these pumps. Efflux pumps present a significant obstacle in drug development, which has already stalled for gram-negative pathogens.
“There hasn’t been a new antibiotic scaffold against gram-negative pathogens for nearly 50 years,” says Cox. “The economics of antibiotic development, marked by high research costs and low financial returns, further complicate this field.”
“That’s why I advocate for innovative solutions, like subscription models, which support ongoing antibiotic research without incentivizing overuse.”
Cox believes that conducting this research within the U of G’s One Health framework, which emphasizes interconnected human, animal and environmental health, offers a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration.
“Guelph has a rich history in microbial research and the new One Health Institute as a key resource for collaboration,” she says.
For aspiring scientists interested in AMR, Dr. Cox encourages resilience and curiosity.
“Stay curious and be persistent,” she says. “A deeper understanding of efflux pumps will be vital for addressing the global health challenge posed by AMR.”