WORKING ON WAYS TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC
Michael Alekshun, PH.D. '96
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Michael Alekshun, Ph.D. '96, enjoys family time with wife Anabela and daughter Sofia. |
"I used to make prettycolored solutions and experiment in the kitchen mixing things together," says Dr. Alekshun, who knew there and then that he wanted to be a scientist. He has followed his passion for science like a compass, from his childhood kitchen in Waterbury, Conn., to his current post at Paratek Pharmaceuticals in Boston. Today that passion is leading him in two distinct directions, researching treatments for commonly recurring infections and for bioterrorist attacks. For Dr. Alekshun, who has been studying antibiotic resistance and bacterial virulence since earning his Ph.D. from the New York Medical College Department of Microbiology and Immunology in 1996, the research is surprisingly related.
Dr. Alekshun has always been fascinated with biology, particularly with the way bacteria interact and adapt with the environment. After receiving his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y., he embarked on what he calls "the opportunity of a lifetime," particularly since Ira Schwartz, Ph.D., professor and department chair, was his advisor. "They don't accept everyone into these programs," he advises. "Dr. Schwartz had the confidence in me to say, let's give this guy a shot."
Dr. Schwartz put him to work trying to find out why the spirochete that causes Lyme disease is naturally resistant to the antibiotic rifampin. The study ignited the younger man's interest in antibiotic resistance and bacterial virulence, which lead him to his next great opportunity: a postdoctoral program at Tufts University in Boston.
There Dr. Alekshun began exploring how bacteria infect their hosts and survive, despite the presence of antibodies. Under the tutelage of Stuart Levy, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and microbiology, he tried to identify the mechanism that makes bacteria resistant to not one but many antibiotics, causing what is known as multiple antibiotic resistance or the MAR phenomenon.
The work was so fascinating that he readily accepted an invitation from Dr. Levy and Walter Gilbert, Ph.D., to join Paratek Pharmaceuticals, the company they co-founded in 1996 to develop new therapeutics against antibiotic resistance. In 2003, after only four years as a staff scientist, Dr. Alekshun became the company's director of antiinfective drug discovery.
Now Dr. Alekshun is researching ways to prevent bacteria from infecting their hosts. He emphasizes that the research is not meant to prevent bacteria from growing but, instead, to "turn off" the mechanism that allows bacteria to infect their host in the first place. The goal is to develop therapies that will treat and, ideally, prevent common and recurring infections. The research has profound implications for public health, Dr. Alekshun asserts. It may lead to remedies or prophylactic treatments that would halt devastating epidemics of infectious diseases such as cholera, E. coli or salmonella. It may lead to preventive treatments for other commonly recurring conditions, including urinary tract infections, ventilator- associated pneumonia and traveler's diarrhea. Additionally, it may reduce human vulnerability to bioterrorist attacks, since most of the bacterial agents that might be used in warfare are treatable with current antibiotics and, thus potentially prey to developing resistance. Dr. Alekshun has funding from the NIH to research prophylactic therapies to thwart a bioterrorist attack. He also belongs to a study section of The Project BioShield Act of 2004, which is federally authorized to research and develop agents that treat or prevent harm caused by a biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear attack.
Dr. Alekshun points out that the widespread over-prescribed use of antibiotics has contributed to multiple antibiotic resistance, making his research timely and important. He is sympathetic to doctors often feeling pressured— especially by worried parents— to prescribe antibiotics too easily. As the father of two-year-old Sofia, he understands their concern. "If you leave a doctor's office without getting a drug for your kid you feel cheated," he says.
But as a scientist, he is also concerned about the resulting healthcare crisis, which Paratek addresses on its website. The company cites CDC data indicating a "58 percent increase in U.S. per capita mortality from infectious diseases between 1980 and 1992," due to the "emergence and re-emergence of infectious disease organisms." As a result, according to the CDC, infection is now the third leading cause of death in the nation, behind heart disease and cancer. Antibiotic resistant infections have reached crisis levels in many hospitals, with some types of bacteria, such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureum, resistant to nearly all antibiotics, Paratek explains. Last year the FDA responded to the situation by requiring antibiotics to have labels warning that misuse can lead to resistance.
With potential solutions for multiple antibiotic resistance still in the laboratory, Dr. Alekshun has his work cut out for him. That suits him fine, because it keeps him engrossed in his job. He hopes his daughter is as fortunate as he's been, finding a vocation that she loves. Says Dr. Alekshun, "I wouldn't be disappointed if she became a scientist too."