Recent scares of anthrax across the country have raised the awareness level among the public, while many researchers are now searching for ways to break down the disease.
One of those researchers, Dr. Andrew Bohm of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, will make a presentation at MSU today about his group’s research in breaking down the structure of anthrax.
The presentation is part of an ongoing colloquium series, hosted by the Department of Chemistry.
Bohm is a research scientist in structural biology and his presentation, “How Anthrax’s Cyclic AMP-producing Exotoxin is Activated by Calmodulin,” will be at 4 p.m. in Room 136 of the Chemistry Building.
Jim Geiger, an assistant professor of chemistry, said the focus of the presentation is to find out more about the building blocks of anthrax and how to possibly combat parts of the disease.
“With this research about the structure of the edema factor, you could possibly produce inhibitors in which any strain of the disease would be resistant,” Geiger said.
Edema factor is one of the three symptom-causing exotoxins in anthrax, which is created by Bacillus anthracis.
The event is open to all members of the MSU community.
Any faculty member interested in visiting with Bohm on Wednesday should contact Janet Haun at (517)355-9715, ext. 356 or send an e-mail to haun@cem.msu.edu.
