What do frogs and teflon have in common besides the frying pan? They’re helping science get a jump on (as it were) resistant antibiotic strains.
Research scientists at the University of Michigan have identified antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) on the skin of frogs–but the AMPs that work so well on the skin’s surface have a couple of nasty habits inside a host. They break down when exposed to enzymes, and they have a tendency to stick to and damage host cells.
Dr. Neil Marsh has found an ingenious solution to both problems–coating the AMPs with nonreactive fluorine coating –aka teflon.
According to the story at Discover.com, the “same technology that keeps your eggs (or frog legs) from sticking to the pan may someday be a key part of a new family of antibiotics.” Marsh’s Teflon-tipped AMPs show promise–the story says they may even work a bit better than natural, untreated AMPs, at least against some bacteria.