Imaging of Drug-Pathogen Interactions

Craig Rayner, Jian Li, Roger Nation and the Facility for Anti-Infective Drug Development and Innovation

In addition to the utility of the synchrotron in determining the high resolution crystal structures of novel and existing anti-infective agents and their complexes with the targets, the synchrotron also provides an excellent tool to investigate the activity of antimicrobials. A synchrotron source may be used for high-resolution X-ray micrography to study the effects of drugs on live microbiological systems.

Areas of particular application for the synchrotron source in this field would be:

• The application of X-ray micrography and imaging to study the effect of colistin on Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
• The application of X-ray micrography and imaging to study the effect of nisin on Staphylococcus aureus.