web-site: http://www.yorku.ca/dgkotra/

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANCE
Antibiotics, Signal transduction, Bacterial Stress Response, Penicillin-Binding Proteins, Trasnription factors, Vancomycin, Penicillin, Staphylococcus aureus

New Findings on Staphyloccocus aureus Response to cell wall inhibitors: Perhaps one step closer toward avoiding antibiotic resistance

Bio: Dr. Golemi-Kotra obtained her PhD in 2002, in Biological Chemistry from Wayne State University, Michigan, USA. During her graduate program she worked on investigation of mechanism of action of antibiotic resistance factors such as beta-lactamases. She then went for a postdoctoral fellowship in the Chemistry and Biology Program at Yale University, Connecticut, USA. There, she worked toward the design of novel miniature proteins as potential drugs.

In 2004, Dr. Golemi-Kotra, started her own research program at York University, Department of Chemistry. There, she has established a research in the areas of Bacterial Response to Antimicrobial Stress and Antibiotic Resistance.

Research Interests: Infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance Abstract: Extensive use of antibiotics has diminished their effectiveness against Staphylococcus aureus, or S. aureus – a bacteria that ranks as the leading cause of hospital- and community-acquired infections. Dr. Dasantila Golemi-Kotra at York University is investigating the genes that protect the S. aureus cell wall from antibiotics. Her goal is to identify the factors involved in antibiotic resistance, ultimately leading to new ways to fight bacteria. The research in my group focuses in the areas of viral and bacterial infections. Infections caused by either viruses or bacteria involve interactions between a variety of biomolecules such as, DNA, RNA, proteins, metabolites, etc. Tampering with vital bimolecular interactions in an efficient way is the foremost goal of today's medicinal efforts in treating many of the bacterial and viral infections. In the area of viral infections, specifically in human immunodeficiency virus, we are looking closely at the protein-protein interactions involved during the virus entry to the host cells. With respect to the bacterial infections, we are interested in understanding the induction mechanism of antibiotic resistance factors