US : Bacteria unzipped - Researchers find potential vaccine for ‘superbug’ MRSA infections

Via Medill Reports :

" An antibody that could attack the notoriously strong “zipper” of MRSA cells was recently discovered by researchers from University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y. The researchers said the advance holds hope for a vaccine that will prevent MRSA, potentially deadly infections that are antibiotic resistant.

“The big discovery we made in finding this vaccine is in part that the molecule we discovered will unzip MRSA’s iron clad cell wall,” said Edward Schwarz, professor of orthopaedics and associate director of the URMC Center for Musculoskeletal Research. “If the [MRSA] cell wants to divide, it has to unzip. So the vaccine targets the zipper.”

The zipper is made of the enzyme glucosaminidase or GMD. The researchers at Rochester are looking for antibodies that will disable it."