Design and production of new-to-nature antimicrobials by synthetic biology

Antibiotic resistance in human pathogens is on the rise and this increase is not met with new approved antibiotics to combat these resistant bacteria. To solve this growing problem of resistance, alternative sources of antibiotics should be explored. One of these sources could be the class of ribosomally synthesised, post-translationally modified peptides called lantibiotics. Lantibiotics are well studied peptides that are stabilized by their characteristic rings formed with lanthionine or methyllanthione residues out of dehydrated Ser- and Thr-residues. I will describe four different approaches to develop novel antimicrobials.
Oscar Kuipers obtained a Masters degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Utrecht in 1986 and got his PhD in Utrecht in Biochemistry in 1990. He did a postdoc at NIZO food research in 1990 on lantibiotics and was appointed groupleader in 1997. He was appointed full professor of Molecular Genetics of Prokaryotes at the University of Groningen in 1999. Specific current interests are physiological, genetic and functional genomics studies of Gram-positive bacteria, in particular on the elucidation and visualization of complex gene regulatory networks, using systems biology- and synthetic biology approaches. Various national and international collaborations exist, in particular within the scope of EU and ESF programs. Oscar Kuipers has been involved in over 292 publications in international journals (h-factor 67, Google Scholar) and in 22 contributions to books as well as in over 18 patent applications. In 2011 he was awarded the STW Simon Stevin Meester award (500,000 euro for breakthrough biotechnology research) and was also appointed member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2013 of the European Academy of Microbiology.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Uwe Völker