Strangely enough I have my PhD in Chemistry, but I work primarily with engineering microorganisms. Chemistry is one of those divisions that has exhuasted all of its own fundamental research, so it is gradually taking over biology as well...



Anyway, right now I am working on understanding how various Streptomyces produce some of their antibiotics. I am currently working on the antibiotic Fosfomycin (produced by Streptomyces wedmorensis and Streptomyces fradiae) and the anti-malari drug Fosmidomycin (produced by Streptomyces lavendulea). That is another one that gets a lot of use in Africa...poor Africa, they have like every disease and 10 x worse than any other country.



The hope of our research group is that we can engineer bacteria that will over produce antibiotics or antimalarials or antiparasitic drugs in order to make them much cheaper (especially for people that can't afford them in Africa).
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when life hands you lemons, make super lemons, bumblebees, etc...

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