Restarting the antibiotic pipeline. 1/2.

Part one of a two-part series examining the looming crisis of antibiotic resistance. Part One looks at the scientific backdrop of the current climate of the antibiotic industry. Pease discusses the history of bacterial infection. Dr Steven Brickner discusses his work developing the antibiotic Linezolid. Medicinal Therapist Michael Kinch (Washington University) talks about his son’s life-threatening bacterial infection after a case of appendicitis, linking this to the increase in resistance rates to antibiotics in general. Professor Laura Piddock (University of Birmingham) furthers this by discussing the evolution and mutation of bacteria. Dame Sally Davis discusses the real possibility of our current treatments for bacterial infections becoming obsolete. Pease explains how antibiotics work, focussing on the role of beta-lactimase in resistance to Penicillin. Piddock describes further resistance mechanisms in bacteria. Microbiologist Tim Walsh discusses the discovery of the bacterium NDM1. Medicinal Chemist Shahriar Mobashery (University of Notre Dame) describes the life-cycle of bacteria and how this impacts on their ability to gain resistance. Piddock discusses bacteria in the wild, their intrinsic link to the natural world, and bacterial sex. Pease visits Liz Wellington and Greg Amos (Warwick University), who are measuring levels of antibiotic compounds found in English rivers. They discuss higher levels of antibiotic compounds found in rivers across the world – especially near factories where antibiotics are produced. Microbiologist Tim Wall discusses the environmental factors in India that contributed to the creation of NDM1. Kinch and Piddock discuss the decline of the invention of new antibiotics and the increase in the rate of withdrawal of old antibiotics. Medicinal Chemist Denton Hoyer (Yale University) discusses the many ways bacteria avoids the lethal effects of antibiotics. Kinch explains the difference between finding an antimicrobial compound that works and making it safe for the human body. Brickner discusses society’s broad view of antibiotics.