About Ballard

The year 2001 was one of unprecedented terror in the United States. The events of September 11 were soon followed with a deadly anthrax outbreak caused by bioterrorists who sent letters containing the deadly bacillus anthracis spores through the U.S. Postal Service. Twenty-two people were infected; five died.

Anthrax is nothing new. One of the oldest known bacterial diseases, it most commonly infects humans as a result of handling products from infected animals or by inhaling spores from contaminated animal products. The infection is currently treated with antibiotics, most notably ciprofloxacin. However, artificially manipulated forms of the organism often are resistant to those medications.

Now a University of Oklahoma researcher has discovered a new method of inhibiting the bacteria. Jimmy Ballard, Presbyterian Health Foundation Professor and associate professor of microbiology and immunology at OU’s Health Sciences Center, has identified a kinase inhibitor that blocks the growth of the organism.

A kinase is a protein that transmits signals and controls complex process in cells. The inhibitor with which Ballard and his colleagues are working was originally developed to block certain kinase signaling in human cells. Ballard’s team discovered that, because b. anthracis encodes and expresses a kinase similar to the one found in human cells, the compound is an effective antimicrobial that also blocks b. anthracis growth.

This novel anthrax therapeutic, for which a patent is pending, puts scientists one step ahead of terrorists who manipulate the bacteria into a biological weapon.