NEWS The National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the United States, is investing 14 million kronor towards a cooperative project between Umeå-based Innate Pharmaceuticals and researchers at Umeå University, University of California, Irvine, and Uppsala University to develop novel treatment strategies for sexually transmitted infections, especially Chlamydia and HIV.
The NIH is responsible for funding nearly one-third of all medical research in the United States - about 28 billion dollars annually - and is the world's largest governmental funder of scientific research. This collaborative project will focus on the development of a novel approach to a genital microbicide that restricts the growth of both Chlamydia and HIV. Studies of populations with a high incidence of HIV indicate that Chlamydia infections increase the transmission/ acquisition of HIV.
The collaborative project has the objective to develop new drug candidates that can prevent Chlamydia and HIV infections.
“The financing of the project by the NIH is associated with an enormous scrutiny and competition, and therefore, this is an important recognition for us," says Sune Rosell, CEO of Innate Pharmaceuticals (which will soon change its name to Creative Antibiotics) and a 2007 honorary doctor at Umeå University.
This cooperative project will focus on the development of a novel approach to a genital microbicide that restricts the growth of both Chlamydia and HIV. Studies of populations with a high incidence of HIV indicate that Chlamydia infections increase the transmission/acquisition of HIV.
The cooperation with three academic research groups in Sweden and the U.S. fundamentally increases the prerequisites of a successful project.
Collaboration between Umeå University and University of California, Irvine
Professor Ellen Peterson at the University of California, Irvine, is leading the project based on previous studies on substances produced by Mikael Elofsson, professor of chemistry at Umeå University, and Innate Pharmaceuticals. Mikael Elofsson works at the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR), an interdisciplinary research centre established by a consortium of scientists representing medical & molecular microbiology, molecular & structural biology, chemistry & physics, and is devoted to top quality research and novel applications in the fields of microbial pathogenesis.
Aprpoximately 60 new substances produced by Mikael Elofsson's group and additional substances from Innate’s collection of so-called virulens blocking antibiotics - that can disarm some bacteria pathogenic ability - will now be tested in laboratory attempts against microorganisms that cause sexually transmitted diseases. The substances have already been shown to neutralize Chlamydia and gonorrhoea bacteria. Researchers at Uppsala University will develop the ointment which may be used in treatment.
“My research group here at Umeå Unversity will assist with knowledge and new substances," says Mikael Elofsson, professor of chemistry at Umeå Unive
rsity.
“We produce substances in the project and we are testing them against a few microorganisms. Ellen Peterson’s research team will then study how the components operate in a larger number of microorganisms in order to extend our knowledge base on the substance of possible applications. The project is very important and deepens a solidly established collaboration,” continues Mikael Elofsson.
Upper image: Human cells (red) infected with Chlamydia trachomatis (green).
Lower image: Infected cells treated with a virulence blocking antibiotic that prevented Chlamydia infection.
Both images produced by Åsa Gylfe, postdoc at the Department of Chemistry, who also conducted the experiment.
Brief facts about Innate Pharmaceuticals
Innate Pharmaceuticals AB was established in 2000 to commercialise world-leading research atUmeå University and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The company has developed and applied for patent protection for a number of chemical substances used to treat bacterial infections, known as virulence blockers. These substances block the ability of certain bacteria to cause disease, without destroying them. If bacteria are rendered harmless in this way instead of being destroyed, the risk of bacteria developing resistance to drugs is reduced. The company will be soon changing their name to Creative Antibiotics, a change that according to CEO Sune Rosell is also connected to a restructuring with greater investments toward market adjustments.
Professor Staffan Norrmark is also linked to the company. After scientific training and research at Umeå University, in addition to Karolinska Institute and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA, he has returned to Umeå to participate in work at the newly started Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR)
Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR)
www.ucmr.se
Innate Pharmaceuticals
www.innate.se