Researchers from North Carolina State University have
developed a de facto antibiotic “smart bomb” that can identify specific strains
of bacteria and sever their DNA, eliminating the infection. The technique
offers a potential approach to treat infections by multi-drug resistant
bacteria.
“Conventional antibiotic treatments kill both ‘good’ and
‘bad’ bacteria, leading to unintended consequences, such as opportunistic
infections,” says Dr. Chase Beisel, an assistant professor of chemical and
biomolecular engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper describing
the work. “What we’ve shown in this new work is that it is possible to
selectively remove specific strains of bacteria without affecting populations
of good bacteria.”