April 26, 2007
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is an escalating healthcare concern. Hala Borno, an undergraduate student conducting research with Associate Professor Scott Singleton at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has produced promising results that could become the first step in a finding new solution to that problem.
Borno, a junior chemistry major, will present her findings Friday, April 27, at 2:00 p.m. at the Eighth Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research at UNC-Chapel Hill. The event will be held at the Center for Dramatic Art from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. More than ninety students across campus disciplines will present their work.
Borno is working with Dan Cline, PhD, a Ruth L. Kirschstein postdoctoral fellow and co-author of the study, to investigate a way to prevent bacteria from developing resistance to antibiotics.
When an antibiotic is overused, the bacteria it targets synthesize RecA and other proteins. These proteins trigger mutations resulting in bacterial strains that are less susceptible to the drug. Such resistance already has developed in many diseases, forcing patients to shift to alternative drug options that are more expensive.
In her research, Borno uses peptide nucleic acids, an artificially synthesized chemical similar to DNA, to stop the production of RecA.
“[PNAs] have not received much attention to date for their use in bacterial infectious diseases, but Hala’s results provide crucial information for designing PNAs that will target especially sensitive regions of a bacterial genome,” said Singleton, PhD, Borno’s faculty mentor.
While the use of PNAs to battle infectious bacteria is still in the theoretical stage, Borno’s results were promising. Her research showed that the amount of PNAs needed to inhibit RecA production was significantly less than the amount of classic drugs required to achieve the same effect. If patients can take smaller doses of a drug, it reduces the chances of adverse side effects, Singleton said.
Borno will work as a research intern at the Cardiopulmonary Research Science and Technology Institute in Dallas this summer and will return to UNC-Chapel Hill and Singleton’s lab for her senior year.
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