Researchers in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Biochemistry have discovered that a cellular pump known to move drugs like antibiotics out of E. coli bacteria has the potential to bring them in as well, opening new lines of research into combating the bacteria. The discovery could rewrite almost 50 years of thinking about how these types of transporters function in the cell. “Having to rework the model and essentially rewrite the textbook on what we knew about the transporters will really change the way we think,” she says. “I’m actually going to teach this paper in our intro graduate course because it’s such a good story of how having a model in your head can limit your thinking and experiments and you really miss important things.”
