Clinical Pharmacology & Biopharmaceutics
Open Access

Abstract

The development of multiple drug resistance has risen spectacularly in the last decades and presently threatens medicine as we know it today. Bacterial communities in biofilm state are more protected from the host�s immune system and may be more tolerant to antibiotics, sometimes up to 1000 times when compared to these communities in the planktonic state. Biofilms develop via a process known as Quorum Sensing (QS), an inter-bacterial communication pathway. Therefore, one possible and promising venue for the development novel antibacterials is via disruption of this communication pathway. QS-inhibition may thus act on certain bacterial populations without affecting their growth, minimizing the selective pressure, and not imposing selective pressures leading to resistance. The search for novel QS inhibitors is underway in particular in a variety of samples from a number of environments, including soil and marine environments. Herein, we present a novel technique for in situ bacterial culture and screening for QSinhibitors from the coral reef environment. Coral mucus associated bacteria are entrapped inside spheres that enable mass transfer. This allows the study of uncultured and unknown bacteria many of which were only studied to a limited extent. These bacteria containing spheres provide a platform for the isolation of previously-uncultured species. Screening of their potential as QS inhibitors was carried out by developing a new medium that stimulated QS-inhibitor production. The spheres� bacterial consortia that were active were then analyzed molecularly. Further screenings revealed one highly active anti-biofilm compound whose structure is currently being elucidated.

Biography

Hilla Ben-Hamo is a Biotechnology Engineer. During her MSc, she optimized the synthesis of an oral vaccine. Today, she is a PhD student at Ben-Gurion University. She had also been to a research visit at the IOF, UMBC, Baltimore, Maryland and had also published two papers. Her industrial experience include working at the R&D department in Chemagis, a factory responsible for the production and exportation of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry.

Email: hillabenhamo@gmail.com