MoLife Research Seminar: Dr. Verena Fetz

Title:

Quantification of small molecule uptake into Gram-negative bacteria

Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria constitute a major health care issue. Among the factors influencing resistance are the low permeability of the outer membrane and the presence of efflux transporters, both limiting antibiotic uptake. In this seminar you will get an introduction about uptake of small molecules into bacteria and learn about two different approaches for their detection and quantification. The first approach is based on mass spectrometry (MS) and can be applied for whole cells and subcellular fractions. The second approach is based on a fluorogenic dye-reporter system for application on living cells. Challenges and drawbacks of both methods as well as former strategies for measuring small molecule uptake will be lined out. With a proper quantification the entry routes of antibiotics can be defined what allows for design and development of antibiotics with improved uptake-properties in order to combat the problem of resistant bacteria.