Research areas of interest:
- Natural product drug discovery to tackle antibiotic resistance
- Development of new antibacterial agents to combat worsening antibiotic resistance in tuberculosis
- Natural product Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Antimicrobial Stewardship in health systems
- Infectious Diseases; Respiratory tract infections – lung fibrosis, silicotuberculosis
- Development of High-throughput assays for screening naturally isolated and synthesized compounds (HT-SPOTi, Efflux and Biofilm assays)
- Find hit compounds that target the L, D-transpeptidase enzymes involved in mycobacterial peptidoglycan biosynthesis.
- Use of novel murine models to find cancer chemotherapeutic agents
Antibiotic and Resistant Mechanisms
Antibiotic-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are jeopardizing efforts in eradicating the global Tuberculosis crisis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is inherently resistant to many antibiotics limiting the number of compounds accessible for therapy. This inherent resistance is caused by several mechanisms. A key goal of our drug discovery research is tackling antimicrobial resistance through the identification of bioactive compounds from plants that have the potential to become therapeutic agents in the treatment of tuberculosis. Our team leverages core expertise in assay development, high-throughput screening, hit-to-lead medicinal chemistry and in vivo pharmacology to expedite the drug discovery process. Our drug discovery laboratory seeks to promote antimicrobial stewardship in tuberculosis that encourages the appropriate use of antimicrobials, improves the quality of care, lowers microbial resistance, and slows the spread of diseases caused by multidrug-resistant organisms.
