# Discovery and validation of broadly effective LpxH inhibitors as novel therapeutics against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens

> **NIH NIH R01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $555,313

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
An alarming number of Gram-negative nosocomial pathogens have acquired resistance to nearly all currently
available antibiotics, making it very difficult to treat patients effectively. Moreover, in the last decade, only a
handful of new antimicrobial agents have been introduced, and these have mostly targeted drug-resistant
Gram-positive pathogens such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci
(VRE). The goal of this proposal is to develop a high-throughput screening assay to discover and validate small
molecule inhibitors of LpxH, an essential enzyme in the lipid A biosynthetic pathway, as novel antibiotics for the
treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852973
- **Project number:** 5R01AI139216-02
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Pei Zhou
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $555,313
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852973

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852973, Discovery and validation of broadly effective LpxH inhibitors as novel therapeutics against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens (5R01AI139216-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852973. Licensed CC0.

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