Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

The high adaptation ability of bacteria to existing antibacterial agents is a major issue that requires newx000D
approaches in the design of novel antibiotics. One such approach, used by a small hi-tech Canadian companyx000D
Otava Ltd, is based on selective binding of chemical molecules to specific bacterial RNA or DNA sequences.x000D
This binding leads to depletion of bacteria growth and reproduction. Here we propose a new methodology forx000D
chemical screening and evaluation of compounds designed to selectively bind microbial RNA/DNA. Usingx000D
computer simulation methods, Otava Inc. has created novel libraries of fine organic compounds that matchx000D
physical and structural parameters of typical RNA/DNA targets. Further screening steps aimed to determinex000D
the most promising pre-antibiotics are very expensive, time-consuming, and require special biohazardx000D
accredited laboratory facilities. For now, Otava Inc. needs to collaborate with large pharmaceutical companiesx000D
to perform in vivo screening of the activity of each compound they produce. This approach significantlyx000D
increases the turnover time between the development of the product and commercialization of the findings. Thex000D
lack of the fast screening method to evaluate the activity of their compounds is hampering their researchx000D
abilities and limiting their ability to grow. We believe that we will be able to develop a purely chemical methodx000D
to estimate the potential of organic compounds from the library to act as selective inhibitors of duplication ofx000D
specific bacterial DNA sequences. This will allow eliminating less effective compounds and proposing highx000D
quality competitive commercial products to the pharmaceutical industry. We expect this to allow the smallx000D
Ontario company to grow and compete with larger international companies. It is not a secret that it is veryx000D
difficult for Canadian companies to compete with third-world countries that over-use cheap labor power andx000D
maintain poor working environments to reduce the cost of their products. We want to use our scientificx000D
strengths to optimize the process of pharmaceutical screening and allow Canadian companies to intensify theirx000D
research power while maintaining high standards of work environment and living.