A new antibiotic created by Harvard researchers overcomes antimicrobial resistance mechanisms that have rendered many modern drugs ineffective. A team led by Andrew Myers, Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, reported in Science that their synthetic compound, cresomycin, kills many strains of drug-resistant bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The new molecule demonstrates an improved ability to bind to bacterial ribosomes. The Harvard team's new molecule draws inspiration from the chemical structures of lincosamides, a class of antibiotics that includes the commonly prescribed clindamycin. The new Harvard compound is fully synthetic and features chemical modifications that cannot be accessed through existing means. @ https://phys.org/news/2024-02-superbug-killer-synthetic-molecule-highly.amp
