Michio Kurosu, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center,  has received a grant totaling $431,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The grant will be used to develop new antibacterial agents for infections caused by deadly superbugs – bacteria that have become resistant to multiple antibiotics.

Kurosu, who has more than 20 years of experience as a synthetic and medicinal chemist, has engaged in a wide range of research projects associated with infectious diseases. This award, to be distributed over two years, will support a project titled, “Expansion of Spectrum of Activity of Pleuromutilin for MDR Gram-Negative Bacteria.”

Dr. Kurosu and his research team have discovered several new drug leads that are effective against multi-drug-resistant (MDR) diseases, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its dormant form; and Gram–negative bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.