UT Tyler Professor Earns $380k Grant for Study on Bacterial Kinase
April 22, 2021
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler Professor Earns $380k Grant for Study on Bacterial Kinase
Follow @UTTyler TweetApril 22, 2021
Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Senior Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
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The University of Texas at Tyler announced today that Dr. May Abdelaziz, BPharm, MS, PhD, has been awarded a $380,750 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine bacterial kinases and their role in antibiotic resistance.
Abdelaziz, a Ben and Maytee Fisch College of Pharmacy assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences and health outcomes, received a two-year new competing NIH R21 grant for her project entitled “Mechanistic Insights into VraS Mutations Linked to Bacterial Resistance.” Her research centers around drug discovery and cellular interactions of kinases with a special focus on cancer and antibiotic resistance.
“This is a remarkable achievement that speaks to the high quality of the work, its importance to society and to the competitiveness of UT Tyler research at the national level,” said Dr. Steven Idell, MD, PhD, senior vice president for research and dean of the graduate school.
“UT Tyler is a Carnegie classified R2 research university. Dr. Abdelaziz competed with much larger R1 universities across the nation to receive this grant,” said Lane Brunner, PhD, RPh, founding dean of the Fisch College of Pharmacy. “The outcomes of this study can lead to life-saving treatments, and we are extremely proud of her.”
Kinases are a type of enzyme expressed in all organisms and act as an on/off switch for cells. Antibiotic resistance does not mean the body is becoming resistant to antibiotics but that bacteria have become resistant to the antibiotics designed to kill them. Kinases develop mutations that cause them to overcome the drug being given and bacteria to resist antibiotics, becoming what is known as “superbugs.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2.8 million people in the United States are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result.
“My research focuses on how kinases interact with different proteins inside cells, how they control the cell biology and how can we inhibit them or modulate their activity to get a therapeutic outcome,” Abdelaziz said. “Kinases produce an effect that counteracts the antibiotic. By targeting these kinases, you can stop the bacterial defenses from building up or re-sensitize the bacteria toward the antibiotics.”
This study also expands student research opportunities as Abdelaziz will conduct the work with UT Tyler undergraduate and PharmD students.
With a mission to improve educational and healthcare outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. Through its alignment with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with innovative medical research, medical education and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.