Ian Andrews (COLLINS LAB)

Screening for Lethality: Discovering Adjuvant Targets Against Antibiotic Tolerant Bacteria

Antibiotic tolerance, the capacity of genetically susceptible bacteria to survive the lethal effects of antibiotic treatment, plays an important role in the disease burden of bacterial infections. However, antibiotic screens typically rely on growth inhibition as a readout and thus do not inform on the lethal component of compound bioactivity. We developed a multiplexed assay to report on the killing of antibiotic-tolerant bacteria and validated it with a genome-wide screen to find adjuvant targets against bacteria in tolerant states.

Molly Parsons (BATHE LAB)

A DNA Origami Platform for RNA Tertiary Structure Elucidation

Despite important roles in cellular function and disease, the tertiary structures of most RNAs remain unknown. Obtaining high-resolution structures of large RNAs is extremely difficult due to their size and multiple conformations. Here, I discuss the development of a DNA-origami-based platform to stabilize a single RNA conformation for cryo-EM, with tRNA as a proof-of-concept and a fragment of the HIV genome as the first target application.