(May 29, 2015) Like a
dairy farmer tending to a herd of cows to produce milk, researchers are tending
to colonies of the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) to produce new forms of
antibiotics — including three that show promise in fighting drug-resistant
bacteria.
The research, published today (May 29) in the journal
Science Advances, was led by Blaine A. Pfeifer, an associate professor of
chemical and biological engineering in the University at Buffalo School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences. His team included first author Guojian Zhang,
Yi Li and Lei Fang, all in the Department of Chemical and Biological
Engineering.