RNA Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery

The development and utilization of antibiotics has saved millions of lives. Unfortunately, the widespread use of antibiotics has led to strains of bacteria that are resistant to a spectrum of commonly used antibiotics. Jennifer Hines, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and her group are involved in a relatively new field of study: RNA-targeted drug design. RNA is important in bacterial regulation, as well as viral replication, and cancer biogenesis. The Hines group studies the structure-function relationships of novel RNA targets and the structure-activity relationship of medicinal agents that target the RNA. This work gives important insight into the factors that govern molecular recognition of RNA by small molecules. As a complement to their experimental work, the Hines group uses computational and bioinformatic approaches to create informational databases that can ultimately be used in the rapid drug screening of combinatorial libraries by NMR or in ribonomic studies of RNA arrays. This work provides a guide to the development of novel therapeutics. Recently, Hines and Stephen Bergmeier, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, identified a small molecule inhibitor that has great potential as a treatment for infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.