Targeting Intimin for Removal of Enteropathogenic E. coli

Gabriel Nunez of the University of Michigan in the U.S. will investigate whether inhibiting intimin, a virulence factor protein of E. coli, can help clear the bacteria from infected patients. Intimin helps the pathogen adhere to intestinal epithelial cells to cause virulence, but if intimin is inhibited the pathogen will relocate to the intestinal lumen, where it can be outcompeted by commensal bacteria.