Research: Antimicrobial development

About our research

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an ever-increasing global problem that represents a serious threat to human health. It is predicted that deaths associated with AMR infections will increase to 10 million per year by 2050, overtaking cancer as a global leading cause of mortality.

Our goal is to identify, design and evaluate novel antimicrobial agents, which can be used therapeutically in a number of healthcare and industrial applications to help mitigate antibiotic and biocide overuse or treatment failure.

Through collaborations with internationally recognised chemists and material engineers, we are working to develop novel antimicrobial agents by using a combination of intelligent drug design and repurposing of existing natural and synthetic products.

Within this multidisciplinary team, we are researching:

• the antimicrobial activities of metals (with graphene and ligand complex derivatives)
• small-molecule inhibitors
• organic cationic molecules
• zeolite complexes
• bacteriophages and associated enzyme products
• essential oils
• natural botanical extracts and novel fabric coatings

Additionally, our theme aims to understand cytotoxicity and immunological responses of such compounds using representative models of host mammalian systems.

The applied global aims of our research are supported by fundamental studies on the mechanisms of antimicrobial activity to help inform further chemical design.

Using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and RNA sequencing, we are able to study the physical, biochemical and molecular responses of microorganisms to lead compounds.