Apr 16
2026 Frank G. and Jean M. Chesley Lectureship in Biochemistry: Squire Booker
Thu, April 16, 2026
• 7:30pm
- 8:30pm (1h) • Olin 141
Richard Perry PIK University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
"The Rise of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance"
The discovery of antibiotics revolutionized medicine, significantly reducing morbidity and mortality from bacterial infections. However, the mismanagement and overreliance on antibiotics have inadvertently led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which pose a critical threat to human health, rendering once-treatable infections challenging to manage and potentially fatal. In this lecture, I discuss the initial discovery of penicillin and its large-scale production, which ushered in the golden age of antibiotics. I also discuss strategies bacteria deploy to resist antibiotics, including modifying 23S bacterial ribosomal RNA, which confers resistance to more than five classes of currently used antibiotics. Lastly, I discuss my laboratory’s efforts to develop compounds to combat this worrisome mechanism of antibiotic resistance.
from Chemistry
Event Contact: Danielle Morisette