Gerry Wright (@gdwantibiotics)

Kirsten Meyer | Chemistry | University of Waterloo Assistant professor, arriving March 2026. Learn more about her research group and graduate student opportunities.

Very pleased to announce that Dr. Kirsten Meyer has taken up a faculty position at the University of Waterloo. A very creative scientist with a fascinating diversity of interests ranging from specialized metabolism to drug formulation.

uwaterloo.ca/chemistry/ou...

15.02.2026 15:56 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Happy International Day for Women and Girls in Science! @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social @mcmasternexus.bsky.social @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social

11.02.2026 16:23 👍 32 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

They reveal the answer in ACS Infectious Diseases: a single enzyme.

Read more about the enzyme and how this information could lead to a new antibiotic drug candidate for preclinical development: buff.ly/ByYWWe6

@gdwantibiotics.bsky.social [2/2]

16.01.2026 18:53 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

The latest from the lab. A new look at an ‘old’ antifungal reveals a novel target with efficacy against MDR fungal pathogens. Nature still has lots to teach us. Great collaboration with the Li, Heitman, and Cowan labs. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

04.01.2026 12:41 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

McMaster research team digitizes more than 100 years of Canadian infectious disease data The new, publicly accessible database contains more than a million infectious disease incidence counts dating back to 1903.

This is a really cool project, I was lucky to have the opportunity to participate.

news.mcmaster.ca/mcmaster-res...

18.12.2025 17:41 👍 43 🔁 14 💬 4 📌 2

Powerful new antibiotic that can kill superbugs discovered in soil bacteria Nature - Surprise discovery could pave the way for new treatments against drug-resistant infections.

By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections

go.nature.com/4oyN3wc

09.11.2025 15:09 👍 93 🔁 16 💬 2 📌 2

Twitching motility suppressors reveal a role for FimX in type IV pilus extension dynamics Author summary Type IV pili enable Pseudomonas aeruginosa to attach to surfaces, move (twitch), and form biofilms. Pilus extension is powered by the motor protein PilB, which is regulated by other fac...

New paper alert! We used our fav technique, genetic suppression, to understand how FimX controls function of the T4P PilB motor ATPase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Great collab with the Ellison lab at U Georgia who helped with some fancy microscopy to capture pilus dynamics! doi.org/10.1371/jour...

13.10.2025 20:18 👍 26 🔁 15 💬 1 📌 1

#GoodPolicy based on #SharedFacts from #HealthScience

27.09.2025 17:04 👍 12 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

Researchers discover all-new antifungal drug candidate in McMaster’s greenhouse A research team at McMaster University has discovered a new drug class that could someday lead to breakthrough treatments for dangerous fungal infections. The new molecules, dubbed coniotins, were isolated from a plant-dwelling fungus called Coniochaeta hoffmannii — the samples of which were collected from the McMaster greenhouse, located on the university’s campus. Detailed recently in the journal Nature Communications, the discovery responds to a critical need for new antifungal medicines. “There is a huge, growing clinical need for new drugs that target fungal infections,” says Gerry Wright, a professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster and principal investigator on the new study. “Unlike antibiotics, of which there are dozens of different classes approved for use in clinics, there are really only three classes of antifungals on the market right now.” The reason for such a limited arsenal, Wright says, is two-fold. First, although disease-causing fungi are microscopic like bacteria and viruses, they’re actually more closely related to humans than they are to other microbes — “so things that kill fungi tend to kill us too,” he says. This makes finding antifungals that are safe for human consumption a real challenge. And then there’s the historical lack of urgency. Wright says that most fungi cannot withstand our internal body temperature, and usually die off before they can cause serious infection. It’s why fungal infections typically occur on us instead of in us — think athlete’s foot, for example. Because our bodies can generally handle these pathogens naturally, Wright says there’s been little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to invest in antifungal R&D — until recently. “Discovery remains a challenge today, but the level of urgency has changed dramatically over the past 15 years or so,” he says. “In 2009, a novel fungal pathogen called Candida auris emerged all over the world, and this fungus thrives at higher temperatures — and it can be extremely drug-resistant, too.” C. auris is particularly problematic for individuals with compromised immune systems, like cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It can infect the lungs, the bloodstream, and the nervous system, and can be fatal. For these reasons, C. auris sits atop the World Health Organization’s list of priority fungal pathogens. It’s a good thing then that the Wright Lab’s new molecule exhibits potent activity against C. auris. Indeed, the research team showed that coniotins not only attack C. auris and several other fungal pathogens, but do so without harming human cells. The new molecules function unlike any other antifungal on the market. Where most target proteins and membranes, coniotins instead bind to the fungal cell wall. Wright, a member of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster, likens the cell wall to the candy coating on an M&M — a protective shell that provides structural integrity for what’s inside. Disturbing this structure, as coniotins do, fundamentally changes how well the organism can survive. Xufei Chen, a postdoctoral fellow in Wright’s lab and first-author on the new paper, identified the new drug class through a process called prefractionation, which allows scientists to tease specific molecules out from complex chemical mixtures. “Since the golden age of antibiotic discovery, progress has slowed, due primarily to the frequent rediscovery of known compounds,” she says. “To address this, we implemented a prefractionation screening approach to target overlooked or masked metabolites. By integrating mass spectrometry, metabolomics, and computational analysis, I was able to discover this previously hidden molecule.” Using this same process, Wright’s lab recently discovered a new class of antibiotics. They have also used prefractionation to identify several other new drug candidates, which remain under study. “What’s really amazing is that we’ve only screened about five percent of the chemical library that we’ve built here at McMaster,” Wright says. “We have an immense, largely unexplored chemical space at our fingertips, and a cost-effective way to reduce the rediscovery of known compounds. Who knows what else is in there?” Wright’s team is eager to move coniotins along the development pathway. The next steps, he says, include producing it at scale through fermentation, and formulating the new drug class so that it may eventually be suitable intravenous (IV) delivery. Research Generative AI and the future of research writing: 2025 Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture

Researchers discover a new antifungal drug candidate in their university's greenhouse

@gdwantibiotics.bsky.social

#AntifungalResistance #NaturalProducts #DrugDiscovery #CandidaAuris

28.09.2025 11:05 👍 7 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

Global antimicrobial resistance—The ostrich’s head is in the sand Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing problem, ignored at our peril. This Perspective outlines the technical difficulties and challenges raised by the lack of market incentives for new diagnosti...

Novel antibacterial agents are being developed, with 57 traditional antibacterial agents and 40 nontraditional agents listed in the clinical antibacterial pipeline in 2023. However, the current pipeline is insufficient to keep up with the emergence and spread of AMR journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

11.09.2025 18:56 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Julian Davies

Julian Davies was a renowned scientist who made crucial strides in the study of antibiotics & antibiotic resistance. Honor his legacy at the Julian Davies Memorial Symposium on Oct. 10, hosted by the University of British Columbia. Register by Sept. 15 to attend via Zoom or in person! asm.social/2Af

10.09.2025 11:12 👍 34 🔁 18 💬 1 📌 0

Naming Challenge: Help Redefine the Glycopeptide Family! We are excited to launch a naming competition inspired by the recent preprint "Phylogenetic distance and structural diversity directing a reclassification of glycopeptide antibiotics" (https://www.bio...

⏰ Just 7 days left for our Glycopeptide Renaming Challenge!
💡 Share your best name idea and win 500€

👉 More info and submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/1ym9...

#secmet #NaturalProducts #Antibiotics #NamingChallenge #Glycopeptides @gdwantibiotics.bsky.social @marghesosio.bsky.social

08.09.2025 12:14 👍 10 🔁 10 💬 0 📌 0

Dr. Sowa at the traditional post-defense celebration, with her entry into the PhD words of wisdom book, adding "Your Science Matters".

Dr. Sowa with her examining committee, (L to R) Dr. Wright, Dr. Zhu, Dr. Freudenthal and Dr. Andres.

Congratulations Dr. Dana J. Sowa, our second PhD of the lab, and again, I'm so proud of all she has accomplished. A problem-solver and leader, wherever she lands next is going to be very lucky to have her! Thanks to her committee @gdwantibiotics.bsky.social @freudlab.bsky.social and Dr. Zhu.

12.08.2025 18:15 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1

Coniontins, lipopetaibiotics active against Candida auris identified from a microbial natural product fractionation library Nature Communications - In this work, authors utilise a prefractionation natural product extract screening platform, which uncovers coniotins, lipopeptaibiotics with broad antifungal activity and a...

The latest from the lab. A new antifungal lipopeptaibiotic active vs MDR C. auris. rdcu.be/ezVt4

12.08.2025 12:13 👍 11 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

Bioprospectors mine microbial genomes for antibiotic gold But turning what they find into drugs isn’t so easy

Happy to contribute to a C&EN article on genome mining for antimicrobials cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
Great article by Max Barnhart, who’s not on BlueSky for all I can tell.

11.06.2025 19:33 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

Why aren't more kids vaccinated against measles? @namshine.bsky.social asks @msmacrophage.bsky.social (@mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social), @jillpromoli.bsky.social, @picardonhealth.bsky.social (@theglobeandmail.com), and Jeffrey Pernica (@hhsfoundation.bsky.social) tonight at 8/11pm

12.05.2025 20:09 👍 18 🔁 5 💬 2 📌 1

A New Antibiotic from Nature + Live Science Chat this Friday! Scientists have discovered a new broad-spectrum "lasso peptide" antibiotic.

I'll be joining Cassandra Quave this afternoon for a live chat
open.substack.com/pub/naturesp...

04.04.2025 13:33 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome Nature - A new lasso peptide antibiotic exhibits broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by interfering with bacterial protein synthesis, is unaffected by common...

The latest discovery from the lab and great colleagues at McMaster and U Illinois, Chicago. Lariocidin, a new lasso peptide antibiotic that inhibits the ribosome. rdcu.be/efdha

26.03.2025 19:28 👍 76 🔁 45 💬 3 📌 0

Heeding the lessons of COVID-19 in the face of avian influenza COVID-19 exposed the many ways in which we were ill-prepared to prevent and respond to pandemics. Are we applying those lessons to prevent a bird flu pandemic?

In a new op-ed for @theconversationca.bsky.social, IIDR Director Matthew Miller writes that as "we stand on the brink of an avian influenza pandemic," lessons learned from COVID-19 can help us avert disaster — but only if we act on them. #IDSKy #H5N1 #BirdFlu

theconversation.com/heeding-the-...

25.03.2025 18:54 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 2

Opinion: The chaos in America’s scientific community could be Canada’s gain Ottawa should not fumble the opportunity to attract some of the best and brightest health researchers

The chaos in America’s scientific community could be Canada’s gain if we play our cards right, by John Bergeron, Kathleen Dickson and @stankutcher.sencanada.ca www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... via @theglobeandmail.com #BrainGain

24.03.2025 13:46 👍 184 🔁 56 💬 13 📌 6

Cameron Currie's Ant Lab YouTube video by McMaster University

Check out this cool video of my McMaster Degroote Infectious Diseases Institute colleague Cameron Curie: youtu.be/jpt9-Dfj6W0?...

19.11.2024 15:50 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

Gerry Wright

Latest posts by Gerry Wright @gdwantibiotics