[Vision2020] More U of I news

[Carl Westberg]

>From the Spokane Business Journal, and lifted from the Vandal Venue web site.  I'm a self appointed U of I cheerleader today:  School reports progress in studies being done at Post Falls research park


University
of Idaho researchers are working to develop more effective defenses
against staphylococcus aureus bacteria and other deadly pathogens.
One
of the goals of that effort, the university says, is to create faster
and more accurate identification of infection strains resistant to the
antibiotic methicillin. MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus, is an acronym being used to refer to such
so-called “superbug” strains.

Breakthrough detection
technologies are already in hand at U of I labs, the university says.
Nano-electronic biosensors at the university’s Center for Advanced
Micro­electronics and Biomolecular Research (CAMBR), located in the
University of Idaho Research Park, in Post Falls, recently have cut
detection time for staph from the industry standard of up to three days
down to three hours, researchers claim.

They now are focused
on tweaking the device so it can provide a complete toxin profile of
staph that will reveal the virulence of infections quickly. To
accomplish that goal, researchers from the university’s Center of
Biomedical Research Excellence are working with CAMBR scientists. It’s
hoped that eventually even the hard-to-identify MRSA bacteria will be
detected quickly using some form of the nanotechnology.

“There
is an immediate need for faster, more accurate staph detection,” says
Wusi Maki, principal investigator for CAMBR biomolecular research.
“Quick identification in hospitals could save many lives, and millions
of dollars.”

MRSA’s resistance to antibiotics has earned it
the “superbug” tag. It is responsible for more than 94,000 infections
and 16,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone, according to recent
Centers for Disease Control reports. Those numbers indicate it is a
greater health threat to Americans than the AIDS virus.

The
spiking MRSA death toll reported by the Centers for Disease Control
provides considerable motivation to move infectious disease research
ahead, and to get life-saving nanotechnologies into the marketplace,
the U of I says, adding that its scientists are focused on both goals.

The
vast majority of hospitals, including all regional facilities in
Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, still culture staph in petri dishes, the
university says. The culture usually takes one to two days to mature
until it is identifiable. CAMBR biosensors identify staph within three
hours, while also increasing accuracy, the U of I claims.

“Our
electronic-detection capability is approximately 1,000 times more
sensitive than the chemilumine technologies currently being used in
clinical laboratories,” Maki asserts.

“Our plan is to work
with Professor Greg Bohach and use the nanosensor CAMBR has developed
to provide a toxin profile that will tell us very quickly, and very
accurately, if we are looking at lethal or just mild staph,” Maki says.

Bohach
is principal investigator and director of the Center of Biological
Research Excellence in the university’s department of microbiology,
molecular biology, and biochemistry. He notes that there currently is
no method available to quickly and accurately judge the virulence of
staph bacteria.

Finding effective “capture molecules,” those
that adhere specifically to staph and its toxins, is key to creating a
biosensor-generated toxin profile and insights into the virulence of
specific staph infections, the university says.

U of I
graduate student Ryan Dobler has been working with Bohach and
scientists at CAMBR labs to identify and replicate capture molecules.
He has been searching through a vast molecular library looking for an
aptamer molecule, which is “a piece of RNA that binds to a target,”
Dobler says. RNA stands for ribonucleic acid, a molecule similar to DNA
that is present in the cells of all living beings.

His work
has confirmed that the large pool of RNA fragments he studied are
binding, and specifically, that they attach to fibronectin binding
protein.

“Fibronectin binding protein is a unique protein
that’s found on the surface of staph bacteria,” Dobler says. “It helps
bind the staph to human tissue.”

The research hasn’t yet
yielded an aptamer that would most effectively and most specifically
recognize staph. In his year-long investigation, Dobler tested about 80
samples among the thousands that may yield results. He is writing up
his research, and will present his findings in his master’s thesis this
month. Bohach, Maki, and their teams hope to find funding to continue
the study.

Bohach and others members of his team also are
looking at the mechanisms staph bacteria employ to enter host cells and
proliferate. Using “nano-wires” and other nano materials, they hope to
hijack the methods bacteria use for toxin delivery, and use them to
deliver drug therapies specifically to infected cells.

Bohach
is working with U of I professor of physics and materials engineer
David McIlroy, microbiologist Carolyn Hovde, and others to develop
those materials for use as innovative drug-delivery systems. McIlroy
leads a team of seven researchers supported by the university’s Blue
Ribbon Strategic Initiative funding. Their goal is to integrate
nano-materials research with cell biology and bioscience research.

The
researchers have found that such microscopic materials penetrate tumors
easily, and can do so coated with antibodies or other materials that
destroy infected cells, while sparing normal cells.
 
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