Researchers have determined the structure of a key genetic mechanism at work in bacteria, including some that are deadly to humans, in an important step toward the design of a new class of antibiotics, according to an accelerated publication that appeared online on April 17, 2009 as a “paper of the week” in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (J. Biol. Chem , 2009, 284, 11012-11016).

Along with Professor Joseph Wedekind, senior technician Jolanta Krucinska and collaborator, Vahe Bandarian (Univ. Arizona, Tucson) the work was performed in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at URMC by doctoral students Robert C. Spitale and Andrew T. Torelli, who played key roles in the structure determination and refinement. The work was funded in part by research grants from the NIH and the NIGMS. The article represents one part of the thesis research of Rob Spitale, who defended his doctoral thesis in Chemistry in April and earned his PhD under the direction of Professor Wedekind, a member of the Biological Chemistry Cluster.