2008 Press Releases

Prestigious Award for UCC Researcher
16.07.2008

UCC Researcher, Dr Paul Cotter has been awarded the 2008 SfAM (Society for Applied Microbiology) WH Pierce Prize in recognition of work on potential new therapies against multi-drug resistant pathogens.
The WH Pierce Prize is awarded to a microbiologist under 40 years of age who has made a substantial contribution to microbiology.  It was instituted in 1984 to commemorate the life and works of the late WH (Bill) Pierce, who was a pioneer in the development of dehydrated culture media.
 
Dr Cotter, a Lecturer in UCC's Microbiology Department explains: "The problems caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria have challenged scientists to come up with new and innovative ways in which to control these microorganisms."  Dr Cotter, together with collaborators in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), UCC (Professor Colin Hill) and Teagasc, Moorepark (Professor Paul Ross) have approached this problem by designing new improved forms of an antibiotic.  Since milk was first fermented by bacteria known as Lactococcus, mankind has benefited from the production of antibiotic-like compounds, known as lantibiotics.  The lantibiotics limit the growth of food-poisoning associated bacteria by acting as a form of natural preservative to improve food safety.  The best known lantibiotic, nisin, has been approved by the FAO/WHO, EU and US FDA and is used in more than fifty countries worldwide.
 
Recently, Dr Cotter and co-workers have employed a bioengineering approach to create a better understanding of how these lantibiotics work and produce a lantibiotic with increased ability to kill disease-causing bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes.  In addition, it has been discovered that these new lantibiotics are much more successful at targeting hospital-associated bacteria such as MRSA and Streptococcus. These findings have the potential to revolutionise the way in which "friendly" peptides are applied.

Dr Cotter's research is funded through a Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator Award jointly with Professor Hill and Professor Ross as well as by the Health Research Board.

Picture: Dr Paul Cotter

795MMcS



<<Previous ItemNext Item>>

« Back to 2008 Press Releases

University College Cork

Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh

College Road, Cork T12 K8AF

Top