Dawg Tech: Cell Factories for New Antibiotics

Engineering New Macrolides to Outsmart Resistant Bacteria. Microbial cell factories are being redesigned to build the next generation of macrolide antibiotics. This talk will cover how scientists reprogram polyketide synthases (PKSs)—the molecular assembly lines that create these complex molecules—and use glycodiversification to add new sugar groups that can boost antibacterial activity. By combining pathway engineering with smart design, these approaches aim to produce novel macrolides capable of overcoming antimicrobial resistance.