Beating the superbugs
Barr
Antibiotic resistance is the number one global challenge in the battle between mankind and microbes and has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the three greatest threats to human health.
The widespread use of antibiotics since the 1940s has resulted in the emergence of super-smart superbugs and “we don’t have the drugs or the chemicals to combat it any longer”, warned Monash research fellow Jeremy Barr.
“I define a superbug as a micro-organism that we’ve pushed to its evolutionary limit in the sense that we’ve been using antibiotics and antimicrobial agents against it for decades and it’s now starting to fight back,” he said.
This increasing resistance to antibiotic treatments means that the risk of complications from surgeries – even minor scratches – could be fatal.
If the current trend in antimicrobial resistance is not altered, it is estimated that, by 2050, 10 million people a year will die from superbug-related infections, outstripping cancer and heart disease as our number one killer.
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About the Authors
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Jeremy barr
Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences and Centre to Impact AMR
Jeremy's group studies bacteriophage – viruses that infect bacteria – and specifically investigates the tri-partite symbioses formed between bacteriophage, their bacterial hosts and eukaryotic cells and surfaces. He oversees an experimental biology lab that utilises a range of cross-disciplinary techniques to investigate fundamental and mechanistic bacteriophage biology.
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Cornelia landersdorfer
Associate Professor, Centre for Medicine Use and Safety & Centre to Impact AMR
Cornelia specialises in translational research to optimise drug treatment regimens, with a focus on antibiotics in monotherapy and synergistic combinations. She leads international research projects in collaboration with governments, clinicians and industry, that integrate experimental research, clinical studies and mathematical modelling to develop better treatments for patients with serious infections. Her research group has developed improved regimens for life-saving drugs across several therapeutic areas and significantly impacted therapy for multiple neglected patient groups at hospitals internationally. She has been awarded a Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences.
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Anton peleg
Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Director, Department of Infectious Diseases, The Alfred Hospital and Monash University
Anton Y. Peleg is Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and the Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Alfred Hospital and Monash University. He is also a research group leader in the Department of Microbiology, Monash University. His research spans clinical to basic research, with a focus on hospital-acquired infections, antimicrobial resistance, infections in immunocompromised hosts and understanding mechanisms of disease caused by hospital pathogens.
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Roger nation
Professor, Drug Delivery Disposition & Dynamics, Group Leader Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Science
At the time of featuring on Monash Lens, Roger taught pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics at Monash University. His major research activities are in targeting the burgeoning problem of emergence of multidrug-resistance among microbial pathogens by novel and rational therapeutic approaches.
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Trisha peel
Associate Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases
Dr Trisha Peel was awarded her Doctorate of Philosophy in September 2013 and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in 2014 at the Mayo Clinic, USA under the supervision of Professor Robin Patel. Dr Peel was Top Ranked Career Development Fellow (CDF) 1 in the Clinical field, for her research on optimising patient outcomes following surgery —bridging the fields of antimicrobial stewardship, microbiology and infection prevention.
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Trevor lithgow
Professor, Director of the Monash Centre to Impact AMR
Trevor leads a research team in the Biomedicine Discovery Institute and established the Centre to Impact AMR at Monash University. His research is aimed at reversing the evolution of superbugs, particularly Klebsiella, so that existing antibiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections. This includes the application of phage therapies that can re-sensitize superbugs for more effective treatment with existing and future antibiotics.
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Mark davis
Associate Professor of Sociology
Mark is an expert on news media narratives and public engagement in relation to infectious disease. He is leading an international, interdisciplinary team studying the social aspects of antimicrobial resistance.
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