Catching up with Shyam Sathyamoorthi, M.D., Ph.D.
By Kelly Hale, Communications Coordinator
Jul 05, 2023
As illnesses become more resilient to antibiotics, researchers must continue to search for the right treatments. And this brings us to Shyam Sathyamoorthi’s, M.D., Ph.D., Trailblazer Pilot Award for 2022.
The Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, Lawrence campus, is focused on the development of new antibiotics to treat current bacteria strains that are resistant to current antibiotics. The number of strains that are resistant has increased in recent years and as clinicians have had to look at other antibiotics, the risk of toxicity has increased.
In his research, Sathyamoorthi has been working with streptothricins, which are broad-spectrum and have shown they can be an effective treatment against several bacterial strains.
For Sathyamoorthi, this project is truly a labor of love as he wasn’t sure he wanted to go into research when he was working on his medical degree at Stanford University.
“I wasn't sure whether to commit to a career fully in research as an undergraduate. I was accepted into the Stanford MD/PhD program, and I thought that I would decide near the end of the degree,” he said. “After my PhD degree, I decided that basic science research was the best fit for me. So, in my last of year of medical school (last year of the dual degree MD/PhD program), I applied for faculty positions, and I started my independent career at the University of Kansas in 2019.”