Davies Lab

About The Davies Lab

The Davies Lab investigates protein-based antibiotics and bacteria-host interactions. Current projects include:

• Discovering synthetic peptide antibiotics: Davies Lab researchers are exploring the sequence-structure space of peptide antibiotics and how peptides with distinct antibacterial and in vivo properties are distributed across this landscape. 

• Developing antibacterial antibodies: the Davies Lab is developing single-chain antibodies that can target and/or directly kill specific bacteria. We are selecting and enhancing scaffolds to support these activities and investigating potential bacterial targets.

• Characterizing bacterial secretion systems and secreted proteins: the Lab explores bacterial secretion systems and secreted proteins as sources of antibacterial scaffolds and routes to control bacterial growth and host interactions.

• Designing bacteria-host interactions: the Davies Lab is investigating and repurposing microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions to develop bacteria that can influence human health.

2023 Research

• Shipley A, Frampton G, Davies BW, Umlauf BJ. Generating Shigella that internalize into glioblastoma cells. Front Oncol. 2023 Nov 23;13:1229747. PMID: 38074687; PMCID: PMC10710169.

• Kulikova AV, Parker JK, Davies BW, Wilke CO. Semantic search using protein large language models detects class II microcins in bacterial genomes. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Nov 15:2023.11.15.567263. PMID: 38014091; PMCID: PMC10680697.

• Randall JR, Vieira LC, Wilke CO, Davies BW. Deep mutational scanning and machine learning uncover antimicrobial peptide features driving membrane selectivity. Res Sq [Preprint]. 2023 Sep 13:rs.3.rs-3280212. PMID: 37790501; PMCID: PMC10543523.

• Randall JR, Groover KE, O'Donnell AC, Garza JM, Cole TJ, Davies BW. Adapting antibacterial display to identify serum-active macrocyclic peptide antibiotics. PNAS Nexus. 2023 Aug 17;2(8):pgad270. PMID: 37637199; PMCID: PMC10449418.

• Knauf GA, Groover KE, O'Donnell AC, Davies BW. Generation of Synthetic Acinetobacter baumannii-Specific Nanobodies. ACS Infect Dis. 2023 May 10. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37162304.

• Kim SY, Parker JK, Gonzalez-Magaldi M, Telford MS, Leahy DJ, Davies BW. Export of Diverse and Bioactive Small Proteins through a Type I Secretion System. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2023 May 31;89(5):e0033523.  Epub 2023 Apr 20. PMID: 37078870; PMCID: PMC10231218.

• Randall JR, Wang X, Groover KE, O'Donnell AC, Davies BW. Using display technologies to identify macrocyclic peptide antibiotics. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res. 2023 Jun;1870(5):119473.  Epub 2023 Apr 1. PMID: 37011732; PMCID: PMC10198949.

• Parker JK, Gu R, Estrera GA, Kirkpatrick B, Rose DT, Mavridou DAI, Mondy KE, Davies BW. Carbapenem-Resistant and ESBL-Producing Enterobacterales Emerging in Central Texas. Infect Drug Resist. 2023 Mar 2;16:1249-1261. PMID: 36891378; PMCID: PMC9987243.

• Fleeman RM, Mikesh M, Davies BW. Investigating Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm preservation for scanning electron microscopy. Access Microbiol. 2023 Feb 3;5(2):000470.v3. PMID: 36910511; PMCID: PMC9996182.

• Randall JR, DuPai CD, Cole TJ, Davidson G, Groover KE, Slater SL, Mavridou DAI, Wilke CO, Davies BW. Designing and identifying β-hairpin peptide macrocycles with antibiotic potential. Sci Adv. 2023 Jan 13;9(2):eade0008. Epub 2023 Jan 11. PMID: 36630516; PMCID: PMC9833666.

2022 Research

• Cole TJ, Parker JK, Feller AL, Wilke CO, Davies BW. Evidence for Widespread Class II Microcins in Enterobacterales Genomes. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2022 Dec 13;88(23):e0148622. Epub 2022 Nov 17. PMID: 36394322; PMCID: PMC9746304.

• Macias LA, Wang X, Davies BW, Brodbelt JS. Mapping paratopes of nanobodies using native mass spectrometry and ultraviolet photodissociation. Chem Sci. 2022 May 16;13(22):6610-6618. PMID: 35756525; PMCID: PMC9172568.

• JK Parker, BW Davies. Microcins reveal natural mechanisms of bacterial manipulation to inform therapeutic development. Microbiology 168 (4), 001175. April 19, 2022.

• RM Fleeman, BW Davies. Polyproline Peptide Aggregation with Klebsiella pneumoniae Extracellular Polysaccharides Exposes Biofilm Associated Bacteria. Microbiology Spectrum 10 (2), e02027-21. March 7, 2022.

• GA Knauf, MJ Powers, CM Herrera, MS Trent, BW Davies. Acinetobactin-Mediated Inhibition of Commensal Bacteria by Acinetobacter baumannii. Msphere 7 (1), e00016-22. Feb 9, 2022.

• JR Randall, G Davidson, RM Fleeman, SA Acosta, IM Riddington, TJ Cole, ... BW Davies. Synthetic antibacterial discovery of symbah-1, a macrocyclic β-hairpin peptide antibiotic. Iscience 25 (1), 103611. January 21, 2022.

2021 Research

• JR Randall, G Davidson, RM Fleeman, SA Acosta,  IM Riddington, TJ Cole, CD DuPai, BW Davies. Synthetic antibacterial discovery of symbah-1, a macrocyclic β-hairpin peptide antibiotic. iScience. December 10, 2021.

• JR Randall, CD DuPai, BW Davies. Discovery of Antimicrobial Peptide Macrocycles Through Bacterial Display. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2371:287-298. doi: . PubMed PMID: 34596854. October 2, 2021.

• JR Randall, BW Davies. Mining for novel antibiotics. Curr Opin Microbiol. 63:66-69. Review. PubMed PMID: 34217916; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8463434. October 2o21. 

• AL Cunningham, O Esarte Palomero, BJ Voss, MS Trent, BW Davies. Irritable Bowel Syndrome Therapeutic Has Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Activity. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 65(10):e0044321. PubMed PMID: 34280019; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8448155. September 17, 2021.

• CD DuPai, BW Davies, CO Wilke. A systematic analysis of the beta hairpin motif in the Protein Data Bank. Protein Sci. 30(3):613-623. PubMed PMID: 33389765; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7888580. March 2021.

• O Esarte Palomero, AL Cunningham, BW Davies, RA Jones. Antibacterial Thiamine inspired silver (I) and gold (I) N-heterocyclic carbene compounds. Inorganica Chim Acta. 517. PubMed PMID: 33568836; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7869835. March 1, 2021.

• HA Butz, AR Mey, AL Ciosek, AA Crofts, BW Davies, SM Payne. Regulatory Effects of CsrA in Vibrio cholerae. mBio. 12(1). PubMed PMID: 33531387; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7858070. February 2, 2021.

2020 Research

• CD DuPai, AL Cunningham, AR Conrado, CO Wilke, BW Davies. TsrA Regulates Virulence and Intestinal Colonization in Vibrio cholerae.  mSphere. 5(6). PubMed PMID: 33298574; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7729259. December 9, 2020.

• RM Fleeman, LA Macias, JS Brodbelt, BW Davies. Defining principles that influence antimicrobial peptide activity against capsulated Klebsiella pneumoniae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 117(44):27620-27626. Epub 2020 Oct 21. PubMed PMID: 33087568; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7959497. November 3, 2020.

• CD DuPai, CO Wilke, BW Davies. A Comprehensive Coexpression Network Analysis in Vibrio cholerae. mSystems. 5(4). PubMed PMID: 32636337; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7343309. July 7, 2020.

• X Wang, CG Cole, CD DuPai, BW Davies. Protein Aggregation is Associated with Acinetobacter baumannii Desiccation Tolerance. Microorganisms. 8(3). PubMed PMID: 32121206; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7142981. February 28, 2020.

• SP Leonard, JE Powell, J Perutka, P Geng, LC Heckmann, RD Horak, BW Davies, AD Ellington, JE Barrick, NA Moran. Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens. Science. 367(6477):573-576. PubMed PMID: 32001655; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7556694. January 31, 2020.