Crowdsourcing for mining new fungal sources for addressing the need for novel antibiotics against multidrug resistant pathogens

To address the health issue brought on by the emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria, including multidrug-resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and pan-drug-resistant (PDR) strains, there aren’t many new antibiotics available. Using both new and less common older techniques, bioprospecting fungus from less studied and severe settings may reveal potential antibiotics to treat multidrug resistant infections. Moreover, the initiator proposes a crowdsourcing strategy that might significantly lower the cost and duration of this exercise while also increasing the likelihood of finding novel antibiotics and new chemotypes for other therapeutic areas.