We are a team of microbiologists working in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, UK
WHY ARE CHRONIC INFECTIONS SO HARD TO TREAT?
Our research focusses on the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This species is a major cause of disease for immunocompromised people such as burns victims and intubated or catheterised hospital patients. It is also the major cause of lung infection and respiratory failure in people with cystic fibrosis. We are working with a novel ex vivo system to study how Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other bacteria interact, evolve and become resistant to antibiotic treatment during chronic lung infection.
Our research focusses on the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This species is a major cause of disease for immunocompromised people such as burns victims and intubated or catheterised hospital patients. It is also the major cause of lung infection and respiratory failure in people with cystic fibrosis. We are working with a novel ex vivo system to study how Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other bacteria interact, evolve and become resistant to antibiotic treatment during chronic lung infection.
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As explained in the video on the left, we use pig lungs from a commercial butcher and culture them in the lab in conditions that closely mimic chronic cystic fibrosis infection. This lets us study pathogen community ecology and pathology in a very realistic context. Because the lungs we use are a waste product from pigs slaughtered for meat, this model is also very ethical and, in the future, its wider adoption could reduce the use of live animals in infection research.
This work is currently funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Biofilms Innovation Centre. |
ANCIENTBIOTICS: CAN WE FIND NEW ANTIBIOTICS BY LEARNING FROM HISTORY?
Throughout history, people have suffered from infectious diseases. From the Black Death to modern “superbugs” like MRSA, troublesome microbes have caused illness, death, and changes in our behaviour and society. Our lab is part of a team of researchers from different disciplines – microbiologists, philologists, medicinal chemists and pharmacologists – who are working together to study the history of infectious disease, and to see if it can inform our future responses to pathogens.
Throughout history, people have suffered from infectious diseases. From the Black Death to modern “superbugs” like MRSA, troublesome microbes have caused illness, death, and changes in our behaviour and society. Our lab is part of a team of researchers from different disciplines – microbiologists, philologists, medicinal chemists and pharmacologists – who are working together to study the history of infectious disease, and to see if it can inform our future responses to pathogens.
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Most antimicrobials derive from natural compounds. Ethnopharmacology - the study of traditional medicines - is therefore an important tool in the development of new antibiotics. However, the standard approach of purifying individual compounds from traditional medicinal plants and other natural materials has a low rate of conversion to clinically-useful products. But historical infection remedies often involve complex preparations of several ingredients. This could be crucial to producing an efficacious remedy. Medieval European manuscripts contain numerous remedies for microbial infections, and the AncientBiotics team previously conducted a detailed pilot study of an Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infection. The remedy was highly bactericidal against Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of antibiotic-resistant soft tissue infections. Importantly, the recipe’s efficacy required us to prepare and combine ingredients exactly as specified by the text. This suggests that there could be many other historical remedies that could yield effective antimicrobial compounds.
Research into the clinical potential of our first candidate AncientBiotic is funded by Diabetes UK. |
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