Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis
University of Notre Dame engineers have joined forces with microbiologists at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, to further investigate a promising strategy for managing cystic fibrosis lung infections.
Cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that causes patients’ airways to fill with a thick and sticky mucus, affects many people around the world.
Ireland has the highest incidence per capita — triple that of the United States — and is home to a significant number of researchers who focus on this disease.
Treating cystic fibrosis lung infections is particularly challenging because they consist of biofilms — aggregates of bacteria encased in a gel-like matrix that are highly resistant to antibiotics.
Previously, Robert Nerenberg, environmental engineer and biofilms expert, and Albert Cerrone, a civil engineer, along with doctoral student Yanina Nahum, demonstrated how combining antibiotics with low-frequency ultrasound greatly increases the effectiveness of the antibiotics.
Now the researchers are partnering with Marta Martins, assistant professor of microbiology at Trinity College, to understand exactly how low-frequency ultrasound enhances antibiotic activity. Martins’ lab researches bacteria’s cellular and molecular mechanisms of defense against antimicrobials.
Nahum spent the summer in Ireland working in Martins’ lab, where she learned new methods for analyzing bacterial resistance to antibiotics, especially via efflux pumps.
“We know that low-frequency ultrasound is impairing the bacteria’s ability to defend themselves,” said Nahum, “and now we have the techniques to better understand how they are doing that.”
In addition to antibiotics, treatments for cystic fibrosis include the use of vibrating vests to loosen mucus from the lungs.
The researchers envision a possible new treatment that would incorporate low-frequency ultrasound into the vibrating vest. The ultrasound could then disable the biofilms’ defense mechanisms and increase the effectiveness of antibiotics. This synergistic effect is particularly important as a way to deal with advanced stages of the disease, when multidrug-resistant biofilms tend to develop.
Low-frequency ultrasound in combination with other types of antimicrobials may have applications beyond this project, Nerenberg said.
“Biofilms grow on devices in hospitals, such as catheters, joint prosthetics and pacemakers,” he said. “They’re a problem in pipes and water systems where pathogens like Legionella (the bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease) can grow.
“By looking at the fundamentals of biofilms — at the cellular level— we can determine where this new approach can be used most effectively.”
Latest Research
- Anthropologist's research shows there’s no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to addressing men’s health issues globallyAt a time when health resources are at a premium and need to be wisely allocated, health professionals must find points within men’s lives when it makes the most sense to intervene and advocate for preventive care for promoting better health outcomes. Life transitions such as marriage and fatherhood are often pivotal and crucial intervention points. But just like every man is different, health concerns across global communities differ as well. Research from the University of Notre Dame finds that not all life transitions produce the same health results, and not all men’s global health policies should look the same from one country to another.
- How postdoctoral researcher Seth Koren makes sense of the universe’s mysteries using physicsBillions of years ago, the very early universe was incredibly hot and dense — conditions could only be described as extreme. Today, physicists attempt to recreate these conditions using enormous accelerators, detectors and colliders to get particles up to the high energy that existed long ago.…
- From the army to anthropology: Postdoc’s path to peace-and-justice researchHelal Khan’s path to becoming an anthropologist who researches peace and justice has taken him all over the world. In his home country of Bangladesh, Khan was an army officer stationed along the Myanmar…
- Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab Awards Nearly $1,000,000 to Build Collaborative Research Projects between Teams of Notre Dame Faculty and International ScholarsThe Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab announced today that it has selected 17 projects to receive almost $1,000,000 in funding for 2024 through its third annual Call for Proposals (CFP). Each year, the Lab releases a CFP for the purpose…
- Jason Rohr named U.S. national champion for Frontiers Planet Prize for breakthrough sustainability researchJason Rohr, Galla Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, is the United States national champion for the Frontiers Planet Prize,…
- Notre Dame faculty members Jarek Nabrzyski and Jennifer Tank selected as inaugural VPR FellowsUniversity of Notre Dame researchers Jarek Nabrzyski and Jennifer Tank have each been appointed to the newly created position of Vice President for Research (VPR) Fellow within…