PhD student tackling antibiotic resistance
One of the world’s largest health crisis, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is being tackled by a 25-year-old Malaysian PhD student, according to the Telegraph.
Shu Lam, who studies at the University of Melbourne is generating research to discover how to kill bacteria that has become resistant to antibiotic treatment.
Last week the United Nations held a general assembly specific to the threat of antimicrobial resistance, highlighting the urgent need for action to combat AMR.
The worldwide health crisis kills around 700,000 people a year and by 2050 this figure is estimated to rise to 10 million and cost the world economy $100 trillion.
The crisis has emerged through irresponsible uses of antibiotics such as overuse, and underuse, which has rendered some strains of bacteria untreatable. These drug-resistant bacteria have been termed ‘superbugs’ and are one of the world’s biggest global threats.
Lam’s research uses tiny star-shaped molecules which can kill bacteria. The molecules are built with a protein called peptide polymer and is intended as an alternative to failing antibiotics. Unlike antibiotics, which when used also destroy nearby healthy cells, the polymers attack the superbugs directly.
Lam has so far had successful results. Testing the polymer treatment on six different superbugs and against one strain of bacteria in mice, she found that even after multiple generations of mutations, the superbugs have been unable to fight back.
About the research Lam said: “We’ve discovered that the polymers actually target the bacteria and kill it in multiple ways. One method is by physically disrupting or breaking apart the cell wall of the bacteria. This creates a lot of stress on the bacteria and causes it to start killing itself.”
“We found the polymers to be really good at wiping out bacterial infections,” she said. “They are actually effective in treating mice infected by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. At the same time, they are quite non-toxic to the healthy cells in the body.”
Lam’s research comes at an urgent time. As antibiotics are becoming less effective, the situation is made worse by there being only two new classes of antibiotics entering the market in the last half-century.
Examples of AMR are already prevalent, with a strain of typhoid in Africa and a form of tuberculosis found in 105 countries proving resistance to antibiotics.
Lam hopes that her research will interest pharmaceutical companies to invest. “I hope it will attract some interest, because what we have discovered is quite different from antibiotics,” she said.
Despite the encouraging results so far, Lam’s PhD supervisor, professor Greg Qiao has stated the project’s early stages. Unless millions of pounds of are invested into the project to speed it up, it will take another five years to develop.
Her research can be found here, in the journal Nature Microbiology.