Antibiotics

Nightmare bacteria are very much the stuff of waking life. These microbes pose a “triple threat” to humanity because they are “resistant to all or nearly all antibiotics,” they have “high mortality rates” and they can “spread their resistance to other bacteria,” said the former Centers for Disease Control and…

A team led by UCL (University College London) and Imperial College London researchers has shown for the first time how life-saving antibiotics called polymyxins pierce the armor of harmful bacteria. The findings, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, could lead to new treatments for bacterial infections - especially urgent since…

A natural compound called morin, found in fruits, teas, and nuts, is showing promise as a new tool in the fight against gum disease. Researchers in Brazil encapsulated this substance in a controlled-release powder that mimics powdered milk, with the aim of creating oral care products that work without the…

Plasmids are now the primary vectors of antimicrobial resistance, but our understanding of how human industrialization of antibiotics influenced their evolution is limited by a paucity of data predating the antibiotic era (PAE). By investigating plasmids ...Read More

September 24, 2025 3 min read Infections of Drug-Resistant ‘Nightmare Bacteria’ Are Surging in Hospitals The infection rate of one type of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales bacteria has risen by more than 460 percent in recent years. Scientists say people receiving treatment in hospitals are at highest risk By Lauren J. Young…

Research Briefing Published: 23 September 2025 Nature Biotechnology (2025)Cite this article 299 Accesses 4 Altmetric Metrics details Subjects Most bacteria cannot be grown in the laboratory, which means that their genetic diversity is hidden to traditional culture-based studies. We combined a new DNA extraction method, long-read sequencing, bioinformatics and chemical…

Research Highlight Published: 15 September 2025 Microbiology Iris Marchal 1   Nature Biotechnology volume 43, page 1425 (2025)Cite this article 520 Accesses 3 Altmetric Metrics details Deep learning has emerged as a powerful tool to screen large libraries for compounds with antibiotic activity, but identifying candidates that are structurally novel remains challenging.…

Research Highlight Published: 15 September 2025 Microbiology Iris Marchal 1   Nature Biotechnology volume 43, page 1425 (2025)Cite this article 293 Accesses 1 Altmetric Metrics details Most antibiotic discovery efforts focus on bacteria and fungi, leaving the domain of archaea underexplored. Archaea are evolutionarily divergent from bacteria and eukaryotes, leading to unique…

Ingredients of our daily diet - including caffeine - can influence the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. This has been shown in a new study by a team of researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Würzburg led by Professor Ana Rita Brochado. They discovered bacteria such as Escherichia coli…

Everyday substances like caffeine may alter how bacteria respond to antibiotics, according to new research. Scientists found that common compounds can shift bacterial gene regulation and reduce drug uptake. Credit: Shutterstock Caffeine and other common substances can influence bacterial defenses, reducing the effectiveness of some antibiotics. Compounds found in our…