ChemBioChem journal features UF medicinal chemistry researchers as cover art

A University of Florida research team investigating biofilm-eradication has landed on the cover of the Feb. 16 issue of ChemBioChem, a peer-reviewed European journal of chemical biology. Led by Rob Huigens, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry, the research team discovered new compounds that rapidly eradicate persistent bacteria and biofilms. The compounds could be used as next-generation disinfectants to eradicate biofilms in hospital settings, which lead to drug resistant infections. UF researchers tested the compounds against other compounds known to target and breakdown bacterial membranes and found them to be more potent at killing biofilms and active in rapidly killing persistent bacterial cultures head-to-head with the other membrane-targeting compounds. Assisting Huigens with the research were UF graduate students Yasmeen Abouelhassan and Akash Basak and researcher Hussain Yousaf.