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Ask the Expert is a forum for scientists at all stages of their careers to ask questions of leading researchers in the field of chemical biology about the techniques their labs use and the types of research they are now doing. Updates will be posted weekly to this website, so check back frequently for new answers.
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Quorum Sensing
Dr. Helen Blackwell, Assistant Professor
University of Wisconsin, Madison
At her laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Helen Blackwell and her colleagues are taking advantage of microwave-assisted organic chemistry, solid-phase synthesis, and combinatorial chemistry to create mimics of quorum sensing molecules. Her team has discovered potent antagonists and superagonists that block or stimulate quorum sensing circuits, respectively. These molecules have potential as basic research tools to investigate quorum sensing from new angles, as well as to serve as new weapons in the never-ending battle humans wage against harmful bacteria. To learn more about Helen Blackwell and her research, please see her Profile in Volume 3, Issue 11.
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Is it possible to discover novel small molecules, for example antibiotics, under the control of bacterial quorum sensing?
Several species of bacteria produce antibiotics under the control of quorum sensing. Thus, if you do modulate quorum sensing levels in one of these organisms (say, stimulate it), you would thus stimulate antibiotic production. This could potentially allow for the di....more
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Can mammalian hosts sense quorum sensing molecules? And, do they elicit immune responses?
Yes, and yes! And this might not be surprising, because the presence of these agents could alert a host that bacteria are present at some appreciable level (for a good review, see: (2007) more
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Is it possible to use quorum sensing modulators as new antibiotics?
This question has prompted much research in the quorum sensing area. Many of the nastiest human pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus and P. aeruginosa,....more
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