Can we combat antimicrobial resistance with precision antibiotics? 
CategoriesSustainable News

Can we combat antimicrobial resistance with precision antibiotics? 

Spotted: The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that “the world faces an antibiotics pipeline and access crisis.” Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rising worldwide while research and development fall further behind. In the last 30 years or so, the number of new antibiotics developed has decreased considerably. This is making infections much more difficult to treat while significantly increasing the risk of what, until now, had been routine surgeries.  

Following a review of 3,000 scientific papers published in the last decade, the WHO created a priority list of the top 40 most important research topics. The list is meant to help scientists around the world focus their work on the areas needing support to lessen or prevent further AMR.  

Scottish biotechnology company Glox Therapeutics is building on the vast experience of its founders to create extra strong, targeted antibiotics that target several of the illnesses on WHO’s list of 40. The new antibiotics are engineered to attack only the disease-causing agents and nothing else. This helps reduce a patient’s level of illness during treatment by not further weakening the body.  

The extremely narrow application of the antibiotics also makes them much more difficult for pathogens to adapt to, which is what helps reduce the risk of further development of AMR. The company’s initial focus is on two pathogens, P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae, which cause ventilator-associated pneumonia. The medicines are delivered intravenously. Sepsis, lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, and other acute pneumonias are some of the diseases being targeted in the company’s next stage of research.  

The global development of AMR is a major concern, with innovations spotted by Springwise highlighting solutions that include a new library of DNA to help researchers more rapidly develop new antibiotics and an antimicrobial lipstick.

Written By: Keely Khoury

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Nanoparticles can tackle antimicrobial resistance
CategoriesSustainable News

Nanoparticles can tackle antimicrobial resistance

Spotted:  As drug-resistant superbugs become increasingly resistant to all known antibiotics, the need to seek alternatives to antibiotic-only therapies becomes more urgent. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is a top threat to global health, food security, and development, with drug-resistant infections killing millions of people and costing billions of dollars in health-care annually. Now, a new therapy developed by researchers at the University of Toronto is on the way to developing an antibiotic alternative to effectively kill superbugs.

The new therapy—developed by Ruby Sullan and Nesha Andoy—uses a combination of nanoparticles made from polydopamine, an antimicrobial peptide, and low-powered laser light. First, the peptide is used to coat the surfaces of the nanoparticles, which then target and kill bacteria by adhering to its membranes and destabilising them. Secondly, the highly photosensitive nanoparticles are heated up with a low-powered laser light, also heating the bacteria until the microbes are killed.

Polydopamine is “a naturally occurring hormone and neurotransmitter that makes it highly compatible with the human body”. In laboratory tests, the combination of nanoparticles and laser light was able to kill drug-resistant strains of E. coli, a common type of hospital superbug. The results were published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials

The next step will be to decrease the size of the nanoparticles to make them more suitable for use in living organisms, before eventually testing the therapy in animal models and clinical trials in humans. While the authors note that the therapy doesn’t eliminate bacterial resistance, if successful, this could curb the speed at which antibacterial resistance develops – making it a major breakthrough in the fight against drug-resistant infections.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major concern across the world. Previous innovations tackling the issue spotted by Springwise include a new way to quantify antimicrobial resistance and nano-robots that tackle antimicrobial-resistant infections. 

Written By: Katrina Lane

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