Life Sciences » Life Sciences News (tag [Microbiology & Infectious Disease])

New antibiotic for drug-resistant bacteria found hiding in plain sight

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 13:17:00 GMT

Prof Chris Corre, Prof Greg Challis and Dr. Lona Alkhalaf from the University of Warwick and Professor David Lupton rfrom Monash University have discovered a promising new antibiotic that shows activity against drug-resistant bacterial pathogens, including MRSA and VRE.

In a new study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), researchers from the Monash Warwick Alliance Combatting Emerging Superbug Threats Initiative have discovered a promising new antibiotic - pre-methylenomycin C lactone. The new antibiotic was found ‘hiding in plain sight’ as an intermediate chemical in the natural process that produces the well-known antibiotic methylenomycin A. When tested for antimicrobial activity, one of the intermediates, pre-methylenomycin C lactone, was shown to be over 100 times more active against diverse Gram-positive bacteria than the original antibiotic methylenomycin A. Specifically, it was shown to be effective against S. aureus and E. faecium, the bacterial species behind Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) respectively.

Importantly, the researchers could not detect any emergence of resistance to pre-methylenomycin C lactone in Enterococcus bacteria under conditions where vancomycin resistance is observed. Vancomycin is a “last line” treatment for Enterococcus infection, so this finding is especially promising for VRE, a WHO High Priority Pathogen.

With its simple structure, potent activity, difficult to resist profile, and scalable synthesis, pre-methylenomycin C lactone represents a promising new candidate that could potentially help to save some of the 1.1 million people who are the victims of AMR every year.

"How different mushrooms learned the same psychedelic trick" - The Conversation

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:52:00 GMT

jimmiev, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Fabrizio Alberti has written the article "How different mushrooms learned the same psychedelic trick" for The Conversation on a new discovery that two different mushrooms have evolved the ability to make the psychedelic psilocybin, the first time that convergent evolution has been observed in two organisms from the fungal kingdom.

Warwick Biochemist awarded eight-year Fellowship for research into antibiotic drug resistance

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:27:00 GMT

Dr Melissa Webby, a biochemist from the University of Warwick, has been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Career Development Award, to undertake world class research into new approaches to combat antimicrobial drug resistance.
Press release (22 January 2025)

Scientists make breakthrough in studying deadly ventilator pneumonia

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 10:01:00 GMT

Dr Dean Walsh, Dr Freya Harrison, Dr Saskia Bakker and colleagues have made a breakthrough which could help find new treatments for a deadly infection that can affect up to 40% of hospital patients using mechanical ventilators.
Press Release (15 August 2024).

New fellowships announced in UK-Japan partnership to tackle antimicrobial resistance

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:15:00 GMT

Two infectious disease experts have been selected to be Policy Fellows as part of a Japan-UK collaboration led by Professor Chris Dowson to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is a major threat to global health, with overuse of drugs, including antibiotics, leading to so-called ‘superbugs’ that have become more resistant to medicine.
Press Release (9 July 2024).

Giant phage holds promise as treatment for lung infections, Warwick researchers find

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 12:57:13 GMT

Dr Jessica Lewis, from the Sagona Lab, has discovered a new bacterial killer that can target common lung infection caused by Burkholderia bacteria that has exciting potential for biotechnological applications.

Press release (3 April 2024)

£1.5m donation drives UK-Japan collaboration in antimicrobial research

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:13:00 GMT

A £1.5 million donation will drive joint research into antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by scientists in the UK and Japan.

Antimicrobial resistance poses a huge problem in healthcare, risking modern medicine becoming ineffective. This could lead to common infections becoming deadly illnesses. Now, thanks to visionary philanthropy from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, which encourages innovative research between Japan and the UK, and The Sir Howard Dalton Centre at The University of Warwick, the research can progress at pace.

Press Release (6 March 2024)

My placement year in antimicrobial research

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:52:00 GMT

Emilie Cummerson, a Biomedical Science with Placement Year student, has just completed a year-long placement in the Sagona Lab and the university’s spinout company Cytecom. She describes her experience in an article for the Microbiologist.
Read the article.

Microbiologist of the Year

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 11:22:00 GMT

Chelsea Brown, a PhD student with Professor Phill Stansfeld and Dr Liz Fullam, won the Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year for her talk entitled 'Modelling Mycobacterial Membranes: Anyone for PIMS?' at the 2023 Annual Microbiology conference. Chelsea presented her research to a panel of judges at the Microbiology Society Showcase on Tuesday 3 October 2023.

Historical medicine suggests a new way to use modern treatments

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:12:00 GMT

Combining honey and vinegar could be an old, yet new, way of treating persistent infections. The mixture of honey and vinegar, also known as oxymel, has been used as a medical treatment throughout history and now scientists have established that this combination could have modern applications in the treatment of wounds. New research by Dr Erin Connelly, Dr Freya Harrison and team, published in Microbiology, is the first comprehensive exploration of how the mixture could be applied to modern medicine and improve treatments for infections.
Press release (13 July 2023)