Scientists study anthrax genes to develop better drugs, vaccines

Updated 5:30 PM September 5, 2007

Scientists study anthrax genes to develop better drugs, vaccines

By Anne Rueter
UMHS Public Relations

In the American government's biodefense efforts, the potential for terrorists to cause a deadly anthrax outbreak remains a significant concern six years after the letter attacks that shook the nation shortly after 9/11.

Now, researchers at the Medical School have developed the first complete picture of how anthrax-causing bacteria survive and grow inside unwitting immune cells — their supposed attackers — during the crucial first moments of anthrax infection. They also have identified gene candidates to pursue as possible anthrax drug targets. They say the methods they used to detect the microbe's activities should become important new tools for other researchers.

Ultimately the goal in this and other related research is to discover more effective, more easily tolerated treatments than those available now if an anthrax attack occurs, says scientist Nicholas Bergman, the lead author of the study, which appears in a recent edition of Infection and Immunity. Drugs given to people within a day of exposure, before symptoms develop, can prevent illness and death.

Bergman is part of a group of U-M scientists at the Biodefense Proteomics Research Center. The study's senior author is Philip Hanna, the center's director and associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical School. In addition to Bergman and Hanna, study authors who conducted the research while affiliated with the U-M include Erica Anderson, Ellen Swenson, Brian Janes, Nathan Fisher, Matthew Niemeyer and Amy Miyoshi.

Scientists study anthrax genes to develop better drugs, vaccines

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