Biochemical Characterization of Diamide Inhibitors with N-acetylglucosaminidases LytG from Bacillus subtilis

In recent years the frequency of antibiotic resistance has been on the rise creating a need for antibiotic development with specific and lethal targets. It has been recently reported that glycosyl trizole are a novel class of antibacterial agents (1). Further investigation on the antibacterial ability of glycosyl triazole inhibitors has shown that targets include exo-acting N-acetylglucosaminidases (GlcNAcase) LytG (Bacillus subtilis) and FlgJ (Salmonella enterica) of the GH73 family (2). The Glycoside Hydrolase Family 73 (GH73) is characterized by bacterial and viral glycoside hydrolase. This enzyme cleaves the β-1,4-glycosidic linkage between N-acetylglucosaminyl (NAG) and N-acetylmuramyl (NAM) of the carbohydrate backbone in bacterial peptidoglycan. Glycoside hydrolase can occur as an endo- or exo- process, depending on the region of the chain that is cleaved. Endo-acting refers to activity in the middle of the chain, whereas exo-acting refers to the ends (typically the non-reducing end) (3). Currently, there is no kinetic parameters that have been determined for any member of the GH73 family, however binding and kinetic characterization will be performed for select glycosyl triazole inhibitors and GH73 targets interactions. Further studies will involve crystallization and GlcNAcase activity assays to identify GH73 family members as the target of glycosyl triazole inhibitors. Through these studies the interaction between the non-competing inhibitor and the GH73 target will be characterized. Additionally, it will be demonstrated that these Ugi- derived compounds are competitive inhibitors of GH73 enzymes

The Experience of Teaching Creative Practices: Conceptions and Approaches to Teaching in the Community of Practice Dimension

This paper explores conceptions and approaches to teaching held by academics in departments of art, design and communication and explores links between the conceptions, the approaches and the communities of practice associated with the subject context. Much of the work which has examined teachers’ conceptions built on research frameworks that also explored students conceptions and approaches to learning. This study of conceptions of teaching is phenomenographic, results are presented in the form of an outcome space of the categories of conceptions. This analysis is enhanced by a quantitative study using the Approaches to Teaching Inventory with reference to the sociocultural perspective on practice, particularly emphasising learning to practice. This paper concludes with a discussion of the phenomenographic study of conceptions of teaching and the quantitative investigation of approaches to teaching and their relation in turn, to the concept of communities of practice

Designing the interface between research, learning and teaching.

Abstract: This paper’s central argument is that teaching and research need to be reshaped so that they connect in a productive way. This will require actions at a whole range of levels, from the individual teacher to the national system and include the international communities of design scholars. To do this, we need to start at the level of the individual teacher and course team. This paper cites some examples of strategies that focus on what students do as learners and how teachers teach and design courses to enhance research-led teaching. The paper commences with an examination of the departmental context of (art and) design education. This is followed by an exploration of what is understood by research-led teaching and a further discussion of the dimensions of research-led teaching. It questions whether these dimensions are evident, and if so to what degree in design departments, programmes and courses. The discussion examines the features of research-led departments and asks if a department is not research-led in its approach to teaching, why it should consider changing strategies