Markus Lang
photo: Markus Lang May 2020;
source: private
The genus of mycobacteria is a remarkably diverse one. Nowadays around 200 different species are identified via modern molecular techniques that make use of the unique genetical code of the different species. Beside Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which claims many victims year after year, another group of mycobacteria got an increasing amount of attention.
The group of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTMs) are commonly found in soil, natural water sources as well as drinking water sources, which makes a human-bacteria contact highly probable. Even though NTMs are not as virulent as Mycobacterium tuberculosis they are still a major health issue for patients with structural lung diseases like cystic fibrosis and COPD or patients with a compromised immune system for example HIV-positive patients.
As the current therapy regimes that are used to cure tuberculosis infections are not sufficient to treat NTM infections there is an urgent need new antibiotic drugs tailored for this particular group of bacteria.
My research project includes synthesis, derivatization and evaluation of new anti-NTM substances with a focus on RNA-polymerase inhibitors, and also on elucidation of new targets. In order to do so, reliable and consistent mycobacterial assays have to be developed, which is also part of my work. We working on the in-vitro testing of M. abcessus, M. avium and M. smegmatis and try to implement protocols that reflect the actual infection sites in the human body more accurately.
Publication list
Lang, M., Ganapathy, U. S., Mann, L., Abdelaziz, R., Seidel, R. W., Goddard, R., Sequenzia, I., Hoenke, S., Schulze, P., Aragaw, W. W., Csuk, R., Dick, T., & Richter, A. (2023). Synthesis and Characterization of Phenylalanine Amides Active against Mycobacterium abscessus and Other Mycobacteria. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1021/ACS.JMEDCHEM.3C00009
Mann, L., Ganapathy, U. S., Abdelaziz, R., Lang, M., Zimmerman, M. D., Dartois, V., Dick, T., & Richter, A. (2022). In Vitro Profiling of the Synthetic RNA Polymerase Inhibitor MMV688845 against Mycobacterium abscessus. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.1128/SPECTRUM.02760-22
Mann, L., Lang, M., Schulze, P., Halz, J. H., Csuk, R., Hoenke, S., Seidel, R. W., & Richter, A. (2021). Racemization-free synthesis of Nα-2-thiophenoyl-phenylalanine-2-morpholinoanilide enantiomers and their antimycobacterial activity. Amino Acids, 53(8), 1187–1196. https://doi.org/10.1007/S00726-021-03044-1