HCEMM-BRC Translational Microbiology Research Group

Running Projects

The Kintses group at BRC carries out the characterization of antibiotic resistance evolution, using predictive screens at an early stage of drug development to identify potential candidates for new antibiotics. The lack of development of new antibiotics is currently a critical issue worldwide, as more and more antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains emerge and the gene sets causing this is spreading in bacterial communities via lateral gene transfer. Using a unique approach, the screens are carried out with actual pathogenic bacteria while they are establishing an infection. The advanced features of the technique allow an accurate evaluation of genuinely transferable resistance genes compared to the oversimplified in vitro experimental tests currently used. Using the developed platform, resistance genes are screened against a representative set of antibiotic candidates that are in late-stage clinical development or have just been approved by the FDA. The goal is to provide a predictive tool for pharmaceutical companies and academic stakeholders to accurately test antibiotic candidates for HGT, as well as to study the fundamental forces governing the evolution of bacterial resistance.

The Kintses and Papp groups at BRC are studying the recent hospital outbreaks of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, a serious public health threat. Superinfections by such bacteria in patients hospitalized in intensive care units have become an important challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic and can have long-lasting effects on patients with nosocomial infections. By applying genome sequencing and phylogenetic methods on clinical samples from hospitals, the groups infer the transmission patterns and resistance gene complements of hundreds of isolates. This genomic epidemiology study is expected to reveal major transmission routes and identify shifts in virulence and resistance of gene sets associated with the recent outbreaks.

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