At just 24, Decker Lake local Dustin King is leading the charge in the world of antibiotics.
Now a graduate student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and living in Vancouver, King is breaking ground in the scientific world.
He has recently had an article published in the academic journal, Protein Science [volume 20, issue 9] characterizing an important and newly emerged mechanism of antibiotic resistance in a clinical pathogen.
According to King, the over use of two of the most widely used beta-lactum antibiotics, penicillin and ampicillin has resulted in bacteria, commonly known as super bugs, developing resistances to the drugs.
"Beta-lactum enzymes destroy penicillins making them useless," he said.
NDM-1 [New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1] is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to a broad range of beta-lactum antibiotics. Bacteria which make NDM-1 are of growing concern to health professionals because the protein is able to attack and destroy most known beta-lactum antibiotics.
Bacteria, which make up NDM-1 have been found throughout India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Britain and are beginning to turn up in many other countries worldwide.
Through his research, King is looking at the molecular structure of NDM-1 to get an accurate picture of the protein molecule.
Put simply, King said he is getting a snap shot of the protein to see what's going on, and why the protein is doing what it does.
The eventual goal is for the information to be used to develop new drugs that can overcome the resistance, and that cannot be degraded by the enzyme.
King said having an article published in an academic journal, like Protein Science, is the eventual goal of every research student. "Once published the article becomes available to everyone in the academic world."
Lakes District News also spoke to King in March last year after he had won a prestigious Studentship from the B.C. Cancer Agency to conduct Molecular Biology research. At the time King was a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology student at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC).
He has also been the recipient of multiple scholarships and awards, including the Alfred Bader Scholarship in 2010. The $1,000 scholarship is given to mark an excellence for achievement in organic chemistry or biochemistry by an undergraduate student based on their Honours thesis. According to UNBC, the quality of the research that King presented in his CHEM499 final report impressed the Alfred Bader Scholarship committee.
He has since graduated from UNBC and is now working towards his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at UBC in Vancouver. While he said he still has an underlying interest in cancer research, his new focus is on antibiotics.
"It is a rocky and uncertain road to a Ph.D.. In my field it takes about four to six years. My eventual goal is to become a professor and have my own lab."
As a Lakes District Secondary School graduate, King said he wants local students to know that anything is possible. "I am 50 per cent Aboriginal and I want to show kids that they have the potential to do anything they aspire to. The doors are always open, especially in the science and research field. You just have to have a desire to reach your goals."
To read King's published article titled 'Crystal structure of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase reveals molecular basis for antibiotic resistance,' go to: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pro.697/full.