Robots Help Make Promising Antimicrobial Compounds

There’s an urgent demand for new antimicrobial compounds that are effective against constantly emerging drug-resistant bacteria. Two robotic chemical-synthesizing machines, named Symphony X and Overture, have joined the search. Their specialty is creating custom nanoscale structures that mimic nature’s proven designs. They’re also fast, able to assemble dozens of compounds at a time.

The machines are located in a laboratory on the fifth floor of the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Berkeley Lab. They make peptoids, which are synthetic versions of peptides. Nature uses peptides to build proteins, the workhorses of biology. Your body makes its own peptides to fight infections, and many antimicrobial drugs are based on peptides.

Robots Help Make Promising Antimicrobial Compounds