Holding off the rise of superbugs could be achieved by ‘resuscitating’ old antibiotics, with UQ leading an international project to help combat the growing threat.
CARB-X, a global non-profit partnership funding the world’s largest antibacterial development pipeline, has funded the $AU2.9m project at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB).
Associate Professor Mark Blaskovich, Dr Alysha Elliott and Dr Johannes Zuegg will assess which antibiotics that are losing their effectiveness could be revived by combining them with a compound from a new family of antibiotics.
CARB-X receives its funding from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Wellcome Trust in the UK, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the UK Global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Funding contributions by GAMRIF are earmarked by CARB-X to fund projects that focus on specific antibacterial priorities, and the UQ IMB Octapeptin LMIC project is one such project. GAMRIF funding allocated to CARB-X is focused on innovative research and development in the field of AMR, specifically in underinvested areas for LMICs, where the burden of AMR is greatest.
