Antibiotics

Chemistry professor Laura Kiessling is developing vaccines that interact with cell surface carbohydrates, and exploring ways to disrupt microbes’ ability to assemble the carbohydrates they need to build their cell walls.

The complex world of carbohydrate chemistry

Drawn to MIT by its “amazing women who were doing science,” Professor Laura Kiessling explores sugar-protein interactions that influence cell behavior.

April 24, 2019

MIT engineers have developed new antimicrobial peptides based on a naturally occurring peptide produced by a South American wasp.

MIT engineers repurpose wasp venom as an antibiotic drug

Altered peptides from a South American wasp’s venom can kill bacteria but are nontoxic to human cells.

December 7, 2018

By chemically linking the antibiotic vancomycin to two different antimicrobial peptides, MIT researchers were able to dramatically enhance the drug’s effectiveness against two strains of drug-resistant bacteria: A. baumannii and E. faecalis (shown here)

Chemical synthesis could produce more potent antibiotics

Simple method for linking molecules could help overcome drug resistant infections.

November 5, 2018

MIT chemical engineers have devised a way to encapsulate probiotics so that they can be delivered along with antibiotics to kill multiple strains of bacteria.

Probiotics and antibiotics create a killer combination

Delivered together, the two join forces to eradicate drug-resistant bacteria.

October 17, 2018

Artificial antimicrobial peptides could help overcome drug-resistant bacteria

With aid of computer algorithm, researchers develop peptides more powerful than those found in nature.

April 16, 2018

A team of researchers at MIT, the University of Brasilia, and the University of British Columbia has now engineered an antimicrobial peptide that can destroy many types of bacteria, including some that are resistant to most antibiotics.

Engineers design a new weapon against bacteria

Antimicrobial peptides can kill strains resistant to existing antibiotics.

November 2, 2016

Researchers have developed a new way of imaging the middle ear using infrared light, which they say could provide much more accurate diagnosis of ear infections.

A new eye on the middle ear

Shortwave infrared instrument from MIT could see deeper, help improve diagnosis of ear infections.

August 22, 2016

Mutualism, a phenomenon in which different species benefit from their interactions with each other, can help bacteria form drug-resistant communities. Pictured is an artist’s interpretation of mutualism among bacteria.

Teamwork enables bacterial survival

Strains of E. coli resistant to one antibiotic can protect other bacteria growing nearby.

May 16, 2016

James Collins appointed 2016 Allen Distinguished Investigator

Award will support the engineering of safe, frequently consumed bacteria to detect and kill dangerous bacteria such as those causing drug-resistant infections.

April 13, 2016