$1.95M NIH MIRA R35 Award for Developing New Strategies To Combat Bacterial Infections
BioE Assistant Professor Mona Minkara was awarded a $1.95 million NIH R35 Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award (MIRA) for Early-Stage Investigators for “Foundational Investigations Into Bacterial Surface Glycan Dynamics.” The project aims to advance knowledge of bacterial and glycan behavior, leading to new ways to enhance health and prevent infections.
Mona Minkara, assistant professor of bioengineering, received a $1.95 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Early-Stage Investigators for “Foundational Investigations Into Bacterial Surface Glycan Dynamics.” The project will focus on understanding how certain immunoproteins detect and identify bacteria entering the body to help prevent disease.
Minkara’s research could lead to the development of new therapies to better equip immunoproteins in eliminating bacteria, which would enhance health outcomes, including the prevention of bacterial infections that can be fatal.
“We will investigate the chemical interactions that play a role in identifying bacterial infections,” Minkara says.
Minkara is using computational analysis and modeling, and artificial intelligence to essentially design a structure of an immunoprotein that is better able to identify and respond to pathogens. The computer modeling includes molecular dynamics simulations, and homology modeling, which enables the design of a protein structure, as well as molecular docking, a process to identify how molecules bind to a protein.
“There is a huge variety of different glycans found on the surfaces of bacteria, unlike viruses that are a little more straightforward,” Minkara says. “The modeling gives me a powerful tool to study the interactions very precisely.”
Bacteria like viruses enter the body with similar tactics by binding to glycans, or sugars. Because of this, they can be difficult to spot and, while hidden, can cause harm to the body. Minkara will be exploring how bacteria communicate through glycans, a process that aids their ability to invade our bodies.
The project will also examine why some bacteria remain undetected and can cause havoc, while others are identified and destroyed. Minkara says studying the interactions between the glycans and pathogens and decoding communications patterns will help identify reasons for different behaviors.
This NIH award follows a National Science Foundation CAREER Award that Minkara received earlier this year to study the body’s immune system response to viruses. The NIH-funded research focuses on two specific bacteria that enter the lungs, while the NSF CAREER Award research is targeting Influenza A.