Presenter: Emily Flory
Authors: Emily Flory, Hana-Joy Hanks, Rico Del Sesto, Caren Freel-Meyers, Kartik Temburnikar, Halli Van Lehn
Faculty Advisor: Rico Del Sesto
Institution: Dixie State University
Tuberculosis (TB) impacts about one quarter of the world’s population and is one of the leading causes of death globally. Typical therapeutic treatment involves frequent administration of antimycobacterial drugs at high dosage for an extended period that requires high adherence. Isoniazid (INH) is a commonly used drug in treating TB, but its use is threatened by the emergence of multi-drug resistance. INH analogs with improved intracellular bioavailability and enhanced efficacy are sought. To this end, we are pursuing a novel INH masking strategy to increase hydrophobicity and ultimately enhance permeation into TB cells within infected macrophages. Model compounds similar to INH have been synthesized through chemical conjugation to explore the feasibility of our approach. We discuss preliminary results on the INH conjugation strategy and potential of this strategy for treatment of TB.