An International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG), led by Professor Jon Clardy and Harvard Medical School, and Professor Monica Tallarico Pupo, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, will discover and develop therapeutic agents from Brazilian insect symbiotic bacteria. The ICBG is comprised of an interdisciplinary group of U.S. and Brazilian scientists that includes UW-Madison professors Tim Bugni, assistant professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, School of Pharmacy, David Andes, School of Medicine and Public Health, and Cameron Currie, Bacteriology. The ICBG will focus on three therapeutic areas: 1) Fungal infections; 2) Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis; and 3) cancers of the blood.
This project addresses the challenges of discovering therapeutics from bacteria in two distinct and complementary ways. First, the project takes advantage of Dr. Currie’s and Dr. Clardy’s studies on the evolutionary relationships between symbiotic bacteria, the chemistry produced by these symbiotic bacteria, and the ecology of insects colonized by these bacteria such as leaf cutter ants. Second, the project will rely on metabolomics methods developed by Dr. Bugni’s lab. These metabolomics approaches have helped increase the rate of drug discovery from bacteria. As leader of an Associate Program, Dr. Bugni will help coordinate and prioritize hits from the screening programs. “Many of the treatments and medications that have been used for treating diseases that are important to the global health community are no long effective,” said Bugni. Brazil has immense biodiversity including insect diversity, and therefore provides a rich and unique environment in which to base the studies and the project.
The five year award is funded through the Fogarty International Center, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, and the National Cancer Institute.