Defending from anthrax:
Cell membrane channels and drug design

The bacterium Bacillus anthracis causes the disease anthrax, the Sixth Plague mentioned in Exodus. Dr. Ekaterina Nestorovich, a research fellow at the laboratory of physical and structural biology at the National Institutes of Health, is looking at openings on the surface of a host target cell that could lead to drugs that block the action of anthrax toxins. She discusses this work in the March q-bio lecture at the Complex.

A key step in the pathogenesis of anthrax is secretion of proteins that form channels or openings on the surface of a host target cell. These channels allow toxins to enter the host cell, which contributes to the symptoms of B. anthracis infection. Studies of channel structure and function could soon lead to the development of small-molecule drugs that block the action of anthrax toxins.

Dr. Ekaterina Nestorovich joins us from the National Institutes of Health where she is a Research Fellow at the laboratory of Physical and Structural Biology. (Before coming to the NIH, she dis research at the Russian Academy of Sciences and St. Petersburg State University, where she received her Ph.D. in electrochemistry in 1998.) Her research focuses on biophysics of ion channels in cell membranes with an emphasis in the channel-facilitated transport of metabolites and other large solutes across the membranes. For more information about the speaker, please see her web page.

The quantitative biology (q-bio) lecture series is dedicated to dissemination of biological knowledge gained through quantitative experimentation and computational, mathematical, and/or statistical analyses of data. The lectures are presented by internationally-renowned experts and aimed at the general public. Visit its home page for information on coming seminars.