SMITHFIELD, RI – Christopher Reid, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Science and Technology at Bryant University, has secured a one-year, $100,000 grant from the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) and Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) to develop antibiotics against neonatal yeast infections, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units.
This is the second grant secured by Reid this year. He received a three-year, $296,275 chemical biology grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry in June to study bacterial cell wall metabolism and develop chemical tools to study how cell walls are disassembled to allow for growth of bacteria.
Including the most recent grants, Professor Reid's lab has secured $1.3 million in outside funding since 2016.
Including the most recent grants, Professor Reid's lab has secured $1.3 million in outside funding since 2016.
“Bryant has been working hard to establish and build programming in the areas of health and behavioral sciences and environmental science, adding to the diversity of the Bryant brand,” says Kirsten Hokeness, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Science and Technology. “Securing independent funding, which is another major milestone for development in these areas, is not easy to do as a primarily undergraduate institution. I am extremely proud of Professor Reid for this tremendous accomplishment.”
"Securing independent funding is not easy to do as a primarily undergraduate institution. I am extremely proud of Professor Reid for this tremendous accomplishment.”
Regional and international collaboration
Reid will conduct this research in collaboration with Joseph Bliss, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine specialist at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, RI, and a Professor of Pediatrics at Brown University.
The two, who have collaborated on numerous projects over the last decade, worked together to identify surface antigens on Candida, a fungal infection caused by yeast. During the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, they switched their focus to screening approximately 1.1 million molecules for antifungal properties and classifying the promising ones into families, based on their structure.
This fall, they hope to enhance the utility of the molecules that were found to be successful antimicrobials and explore their effectiveness as potential antifungal agents in treating neonatal Candidiasis (yeast infections).
The best outcome from this grant, according to Reid, is that “we identify one or more molecules that show promise in inhibiting the ability of the fungal pathogen to cause infection. Once we identify these lead compounds, we will then use them as a template to improve their activity.”
To help identify viable proteins to pursue, Reid and Bliss enlisted the help of Sue Twine, Ph.D. to lead the glycoproteomics (large-scall study of proteins) portion of the project. Dr. Twine is Director of Research & Development Production Platforms and Analytics at the National Research Council’s Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, where Professor Reid once worked, and an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University.
Opportunities for students
“This grant is a great opportunity for students to learn and perform cutting edge research at the interface of chemistry and biology."
This research provides experiential learning opportunities for Bryant’s community of scholars, in addition to furthering medical research. “This grant is a great opportunity for students to learn and perform cutting edge research at the interface of chemistry and biology,” says Reid, who continually involves undergraduates in his latest research.
As a result of the grant, a Bryant undergraduate student will be able to visit and work at Ottawa’s state-of-the-art mass spectrometry facility, pending COVID-19 travel restrictions. Bryant is also able to hire a full-time post-baccalaureate in the lab to carry out the synthetic work required for the project.
About Bryant University
For 157 years, Bryant University has been at the forefront of delivering an exceptional education that anticipates the future and prepares students to be innovative leaders of character in a changing world. Located on a contemporary campus in Smithfield, R.I., Bryant enrolls approximately 3800 undergraduate students from 38 states and 49 countries. Bryant is recognized as a leader in international education and regularly receives top rankings from U.S. News and World Report, Money, Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street Journal, College Factual, and Barron's. Visit https://www.bryant.edu/.
