Monday, 2 December 2024 4:00pm – 5:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Norman Gregg Lecture Theatre – Edward Ford Building

Speaker: Dr Wenyi Li

Host: Dr Johnny Liu

Title: Developing antimicrobial peptides to prevent bacterial infections

Abstract: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), known as host defence peptides, are potentially potent alternatives to conventional antibiotics, given their broad spectrum of activity. They mainly interact with cell membranes through surface electrostatic potentials and the formation of secondary structures, resulting in permeability and destruction of target microorganism membranes. To further improve the antibacterial activity, we have applied different chemical modifications on several AMPs, including multimerisation, conjugation and lipidation. For example, the attachment of moderate-length lipid carbon chains to cationic peptides can assist peptide inserts into the membrane lipid bilayer, inducing curvature and resulting in membrane pore formation, destabilisation, depolarisation, and leakage. Our findings highlight the advantages of modern chemical biology methods in developing novel AMPs with more potent antibacterial activity.

Apart from our antibacterial work, we are working to identify the metabolic pathways affected by different antifungals with different killing and resistant mechanisms. The knowledge generated will direct the novel targets of antifungal design and combination therapies against fungal infections.

Bio: Dr Wenyi Li is a Senior Lecturer and NHMRC Investigator EL1 Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne. Their research projects mainly focus on developing antimicrobial peptides to combat bacterial infections, most recently with pathogenic fungi.