Isoxazoline Scaffolds

Lisa Ahlberg (Chemistry)

Synthesis and Investigation of Isoxazoline Scaffolds as Selective Antibacterial Agents

Development of highly antibiotic resistant strains of infections such as staphylococcus and tuberculosis warrant the search for new antibacterial chemotherapies. With vanishing antibiotic therapies available for such infections and with little pharmaceutical company input into such problems, it is critical for many researchers to investigate novel therapies against these bacterial threats.

This proposal is to fund the synthesis of isoxazoline compounds, which have shown potential for anti-tuberculosis activity. Tuberculosis is a global health threat with one in three people being infected.

It is proposed to make compounds of the general isoxazoline moiety. The purified and clearly identified compounds will then be tested for their potential anti-tuberculosis activity. This small start in synthesis of potential therapeutically effective compounds could lead to proposal information for outside funding of further research. Additionally, a student researcher could work on synthesizing one of these compounds; gaining further chemistry experience while adding to their body of understanding the chemical and biological sciences. 

Tuberculosis is a worldwide problem that other disciplines (such as Medical Laboratory Sciences and Biology) could be interested in and could collaborate in the future by working with me to develop an assay to identify tuberculosis and/or perhaps ultimately develop a vaccine for this disease. This small start could lead to funding for interdisciplinary research proposals.