Antibiotic Resistance News and Research

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New UNC School of Medicine study shows how some bacteria can spread throughout the body

Bacteria have evolved thousands of clever tactics for invading our bodies while evading our natural defenses. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists studying one of the world's most virulent pathogens and a separate very common bacterium have discovered a new way that some bacteria can spread rapidly throughout the body - by hitchhiking on our own immune cells.

16 Feb 2016

Anti-biofilm compounds show promise against drug-resistant bacteria associated with hospital-acquired infections

Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute and School of Public Health have discovered a new class of anti-biofilm compounds derived from marine microorganisms that show promise against a drug-resistant bacterium commonly associated with hospital-acquired infections.

16 Feb 2016

Nine researchers win EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards

Nine researchers, working on innovative projects that promise to improve healthcare diagnosis and treatment, across a wide spread of issues, were today announced as the first recipients of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's (EPSRC) Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards.

15 Feb 2016

Allergan and AstraZeneca partner to develop, commercialize ATM-AVI for MBL-producing pathogens

Allergan plc today announced that it has entered into a global agreement with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize ATM-AVI, an investigational, fixed-dose antibiotic combining aztreonam and avibactam.

30 Jan 2016

New breakthrough drug shows promise to fight antibiotic-resistant infections

A New York pharmaceutical company, TGV-Laboratories, has developed a groundbreaking drug that shows promise in treating a wide variety of antibiotic-resistant fungal and bacterial infections.

28 Jan 2016

CosmosID announces $6M in Series B funding round

CosmosID, the leading genomic big data company focused on microbiome research, outbreak investigations, and infectious disease diagnostics, using next-generation DNA sequencing, announced $6M in Series B funding.

28 Jan 2016

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae: an interview with Dr. Michael Dudley

Enterobacteriaceae refer to the family of bacteria such as E. coli and Klebsiella that are bacterial pathogens most frequently associated with hospital-acquired infections

25 Jan 2016

UC San Diego researchers develop rapid susceptibility test for Staphylococcus aureus

A team of biologists and biomedical researchers at UC San Diego has developed a new method to determine if bacteria are susceptible to antibiotics within a few hours, an advance that could slow the appearance of drug resistance and allow doctors to more rapidly identify the appropriate treatment for patients with life threatening bacterial infections.

25 Jan 2016

Researchers confirm that cranberry extract helps fight UTIs in breastfed children under age one

Researchers from the universities of Granada (Spain) and Kvopio (Finland) have confirmed that cranberry extract helps fighting urinary tract infections (UTIs) in breastfed babies under one year of age.

18 Jan 2016

UM SOM to team up with industry to develop vaccine for preventing deadly bacterial infections

The Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine will participate in a partnership with industry to develop a vaccine to prevent a group of deadly bacterial infections that occur commonly among hospital patients.

13 Jan 2016

Newly discovered molecular mechanism may provide alternative explanation for antibiotic resistance

The bacterium B. cereus had so far been considered to be exclusively endospore-forming. In response to harsh conditions, the bacteria form protective endospores enabling them to remain dormant for extended periods. When conditions are more favourable, the endospores reactivate to become fully functioning bacteria.

28 Dec 2015

Environmental contaminants contributing to increase in bacterial resistance

While the rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has prompted the medical community, non-profit organizations, public health officials and the national media to educate the public to the dangers of misusing and overusing antibiotics, the University of Georgia's J. Vaun McArthur is concerned that there's more to the problem than the misuse of common medications.

24 Dec 2015

Inorganic mercury can damage key cell processes, finds UGA study

University of Georgia research has found that inorganic mercury, which was previously thought to be a less harmful form of the toxic metal, is very damaging to key cell processes.

22 Dec 2015

New easy-to-use computer program can quickly identify drug-resistant infections

Scientists have developed an easy-to-use computer program that can quickly analyse bacterial DNA from a patient's infection and predict which antibiotics will work, and which will fail due to drug resistance. The software is currently being trialled in three UK hospitals to see whether it could help speed up diagnosis of drug-resistant infections and enable doctors to better target the prescription of antibiotics.

21 Dec 2015

Australian researchers develop new technique to combat chronic bacterial infections in hospitals

One of the scourges of infections in hospitals – biofilms formed by bacteria that stick to each other on living tissue and medical instruments, making them harder to remove – can be tricked into dispersing with the targeted application of nanoparticles and heat, researchers have found.

21 Dec 2015

Five research centres get £10 million to explore how maths, statistics can help tackle serious health challenges

Life Sciences Minister George Freeman today (16 December) announced £10 million investment in five new research centres around the UK that will explore how mathematics and statistics can help clinicians to tackle serious health challenges such as cancer, heart disease and antibiotic resistant bacteria.

17 Dec 2015

Antibiotic resistance may help find drugs to combat amyloid formation

Amyloid diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and type-2 diabetes pose a particular problem for drug designers because they do not present a clear target structure to aim at.

15 Dec 2015

UC San Diego biologists develop a method to screen natural products for new antibiotics

Biologists at UC San Diego have found that a method they developed to identify and characterize new antibiotics can be employed to screen natural products quickly for compounds capable of controlling antibiotic resistant bacteria.

11 Dec 2015

Bacteriophage therapy: an alternative to antibiotics? An interview Professor Clokie

A phage is a virus that infects a bacterium. People often get very confused about what the difference is between a virus and a bacterium. A virus, like a bacterium, is also a microorganism, but unlike bacteria, it needs to have a host to be able to replicate and propagate.

2 Dec 2015

Research highlights importance of controlling hospital and nursing home infection

A Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital study found that a small percentage of nursing home patients carrying multi drug-resistant bacteria are admitted to hospitals without showing symptoms caused by the bacteria. The research, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, highlights the importance of hospital and nursing home infection control practices.

1 Dec 2015