Small-angle neutron scattering of antimicrobial peptides

The increase prevalence of multi-antibiotic resistant pathogens has been listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the biggest threats to modern day healthcare and food security. As antibiotics become less effective, it is important to drive the development actives against multi-drug resistant organisms. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an attractive alternative, as they can target a range of microbes, are fast acting, and have a multi-hit strategy which decreases the chances of microbes developing resistance. We plan to do this with a SANS experiment to examine four short AMPs which have bactericidal effect of pseudomonas aeruginosa, with different bilayers based on different phases of the bacterial life-cycle, to understand the mechanisms of antimicrobial activity on the membrane, by the use of different contrasts to observe changes in peptide and lipid composition.