Discovery and Characterization of Novel Antimicrobial Agents

The discovery of novel antimicrobials and the study of antimicrobial function have significant relevance towards the development of therapeutics aimed at treating life threatening diseases. However, much of what we have learned about protein synthesis, DNA replication, enzyme function, as well as membrane physiology comes from the study of antimicrobials. Our knowledge of cellular and membrane physiology is still limited and there is much we need to learn. The discovery and structural and functional characterization of new antimicrobial agents will provide new insights into cellular and membrane function, as well as provide means to intellectually design new analogs that target microbial function. The discovery of new enzymes involved in natural product synthesis also provides invaluable information in understanding the complexity of microorganisms and provides tools for synthetic chemistry applications.