The overarching goal of the Wisconsin Antimicrobial Drug Discovery and Development Center is to develop therapeutic countermeasures to tackle the antimicrobial resistance crisis. To assist in achieving that goal, the In Vitro Core will use state-of-the-art acoustic liquid handling robotics to assay the fractionated extracts and compounds for antibacterial and antifungal activity, toxicity on human primary cells, and hemolysis of red blood cells. The Core will provide the projects with data from secondary screens on strains resistant to available antibiotics or a Candida auris strain resistant to all clinically available antifungals. Relevance The In Vitro Core will provide the Center and the three Projects with critical data on the antimicrobial, antifungal and in vitro toxicity of new compounds so that the Center can develop new, broad spectrum antimicrobial agents.
In Vitro Core Narrative: Fungal and bacterial pathogens for which there are no effective therapies are rapidly emerging. The In Vitro Core will provide all three Projects with high throughput assays of fractionated extracts and pure compounds, including secondary screens on strains resistant to available antibiotics or a Candida auris strain resistant to all clinically available antifungals.
