ERC Starting Grant · 2024
Supramolecular Self-Replicating Antimicrobials
This project aims to address the urgent need for new antimicrobial agents by developing a conceptually new strategy to damage bacterial membranes with supramolecular fibres. Dormant (non-assembling) precursors will accumulate in the membrane of bacteria for in situ switch-on of self-assembly and membrane lysis. Specific metabolic routes of bacteria, absent in mammalian cells, will be used to transport supramolecular precursors into the membrane of bacteria with full cell specificity. Once in the membrane, precursors will combine to generate self-assembling peptide amphiphiles (PAs). Importantly, once formed, the supramolecular assemblies can catalyse their own synthesis in bacterial…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.