Antibiotic resistance is the biggest challenge in modern medicine today, Nobel laureate and renowned crystallographer Ada E. Yonath has said.
She was speaking during a public lecture organised by the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) under its Erudite – Scholar in Residence programme at the Senate Chamber of the University of Kerala on Monday.
During her hour-long lecture and interaction with researchers, Dr. Yonath elaborated on her work relating to Cryo-Crystallography and its applications in understanding ribosome structures.
Ribosome structure
She explained the developments in determining the complex high resolution structures of both ribosome sub-units and polypeptide polymerisations.
She explained the complexity of ribosomes, which made 5 to 40 bonds between new amino acids in a second, while a chemist would require hours to make a single peptide bond.
Eco-friendly antibiotics
She also emphasised on the present-day challenges in modern medicine in the backdrop of the growing antibiotic resistance in the post antibiotic era.
Besides stressing on the need for the scientific community in controlling or combating the antibiotic resistance in the future, Dr. Yonath also called for developing new environment-friendly antibiotics.
The meeting was attended by students, faculty and researchers of the university and affiliated colleges.
Her visit to the State will conclude on Wednesday. She is scheduled to interact with academics of the Kerala University and the Mahatma Gandhi University.
KSHEC member secretary Rajan Varughese chaired the session. Kerala University Vice Chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai, Kerala Council for Historical Research chairman P.K. Michael Tharakan and KSHEC research officer V. Shafeeq were present.