Funds secured to undertake research on the physics of antimicrobial resistance

An EPSRC grant has been secured to find out how dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria differ from less dangerous antibiotic-sensitive ones.

The development by bacteria of resistance to antibiotics (antimicrobial resistance) is a global challenge that threatens to undermine many of the advances of modern medicine, with consequential massive human and financial costs. The emergence of resistant bacteria is a complex problem, and tackling it requires interdisciplinary science.

Researchers led by the University of Sheffield have been awarded an EPSRC Building Collaboration at the Physics of Life Interface grant for work on the physics of antimicrobial resistance. The research programme brings together quantitative experimental and mathematical physics with cutting-edge microbiology, biochemistry and infectious disease biology.

Rosalind Allen, who works at the School of Physics and Astronomy leads Edinburgh’s involvement with the team commented:

Our research aims to find out how dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria differ from less dangerous antibiotic-sensitive ones. Specifically, we will measure how their physical properties differ, and how their internal physiological processes differ. In this way we aim to discover hidden vulnerabilities of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be exploited in smart treatment strategies.