Kyoji Tsuchikama
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
McGovern Medical School
Institute of Molecular Medicine
Antibiotics are powerful agents for the treatment of infectious diseases. However, their strong pharmacological effect poses evolutionary pressure on pathogenic microbes, leading to the development of drug resistance. The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an increasingly serious problem for human health. Therefore, alternative antimicrobial strategies based on a novel mechanism of action has been pursued to overcome this clinical challenge. With this background in mind, my lab is focused on two research projects by taking advantage of the power of organic chemistry and chemical biology. Firstly, we will conduct proteomic profiling using synthetic chemical probes based on antimicrobial metal complexes. In the past decades, metal complexes have attracted increasing attention as potential drugs for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, and, more recently, infectious diseases caused by drug-resistant pathogens. However, in general, their molecular targets are still unclear. Chemical probes based on such antimicrobial metal complexes will enable us to identify their protein targets and thus provide novel insights into pharmacological mechanisms and drug design for developing innovative antimicrobial therapeutics. Secondly, we will design, synthesize, and evaluate untraditional antimicrobial agents that could potentially circumvent drug resistance development. Our molecular design stems from the concept of “delivering catastrophic agents only to target pathogens”. We will develop and evaluate various types of molecules consisting of “targeting” and “killing” motifs. Throughout these projects, we hope to drive our efforts toward innovative medical cures to save people suffering from
serious diseases.
Education & Training
PhD, Waseda University, 2010