Shining light on an ancient enemy

Shining light on an ancient enemy

New Zealand scientists enlist Australian Synchrotron in the fight against TB

12 June 2007, Melbourne

Australian and New Zealand scientists will join forces to understand and fight tuberculosis – looking for its Achilles’ heel. The collaboration was announced today during a visit by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne.

TB kills more than two million people a year. And a nasty new version is stalking the globe—extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). US authorities are so concerned that earlier this month they invoked a law unused for 44 years to isolate a man with XDR-TB.

“New Zealand researchers will use the Australian Synchrotron to study tuberculosis proteins looking for weak points that drugs and vaccines could target. They will also be trying to unravel its secrets, in particular how it can burrow into our lungs and remain alive but hidden for 20 years or more,” says University of Auckland scientist Ted Baker.

It’s one example of the many ways that New Zealand scientists will be using the Australian Synchrotron in the coming years. That’s why a consortium of NZ government and university research agencies have contributed $5 million to the development of the synchrotron’s beamlines – the experimental stations where the synchrotron’s intense light beams are put to useful work.

In the past Baker and his staff travelled the world to secure access to synchrotron light. “Now it’s just a dash across the Tasman,” he says. Baker, who was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours, says that the synchrotron dramatically speeds up his work.

His initial study in the 1970s of a kiwifruit enzyme known as actinidin took years of work. Today, using synchrotron X-ray beams, you can do the same analysis in a matter of weeks. That makes the synchrotron an essential tool in the fight against our ancient enemy Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB

. A global consortium is looking at 400 TB proteins that are essential to its survival. Baker has already contributed the structure of 20 of these and plans to look at many more as drug development gets into full swing.

“A protein’s structure is the key to its function. By studying the structure of these vital proteins, researchers can look at how to block, alter or otherwise inhibit their action, thus killing the bacterium,” he says. “And if a protein is not present in humans, there’s less chance of adverse side effects.” “I’ll be a frequent visitor to Melbourne, bringing up to 100 crystals on each trip,” says Baker.

“And I expect many New Zealand students and other researchers will join me.” But not everyone will be flying in. The Australian Synchrotron team has installed a remote-controlled robotic facility so that researchers can perform routine analyses on the synchrotron without leaving home.

“We’re excited to be partners in the development of the Australian Synchrotron,” says Baker. “New Zealand researchers are keen to get access to the beamlines. And New Zealand companies have supplied some of the key technology for the synchrotron. CMS Alphatech/Buckley Systems defeated fierce international competition to supply some 200 giant magnets each weighing 7.5 tonnes.” The magnets force electron beams around the doughnut shaped ring of the synchrotron.”

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