X-factor to help antibiotics regain their spark

Holding off the rise of superbugs could be achieved by ‘resuscitating’ old antibiotics, with The University of Queensland researchers leading an international project to help combat the growing threat.

CARB-X, a global non-profit partnership funding the world’s largest antibacterial development pipeline, has funded the $AU2.9m project at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB).

Associate Professor Mark Blaskovich, Dr Alysha Elliott and Dr Johannes Zuegg will assess which antibiotics that are losing their effectiveness could be revived by combining them with a compound from a new family of antibiotics.