Congratulations to the team, Dr Muhammad Kamruzzaman, Dr Alicia Fajardo Lubian, Associate Professor Sally Partridge and Professor Jon Iredell, from the Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Research Centre at WIMR, who have been awarded $1,994,553 as part of the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Global Health Initiative.
The funding will be used to advance the team’s research that uses Plasmid Therapy to manage antibiotic resistance.
The project, titled ‘Managing mobile antibiotic resistance: tracking and evicting plasmids’ will develop simple, new diagnostic tools to track antibiotic resistance and test the Plasmid Therapy approach to eradicate antibiotic resistance in humans.
According to the World Health Organization, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is one of the top global threats to public health. It is estimated that, in 2019, bacterial AMR was responsible for 1.27 million global deaths and contributed to 4.95 million deaths.[1]
Plasmids are small DNA molecules that are found in bacteria. Some of the deadliest bacteria use plasmids to share their genes. This includes the major resistance genes that allow bacteria to defeat evade antibiotic treatment.
Plasmid Therapy, which involves genetically modifying plasmids, offers new, safe, scalable, and affordable solutions to eradicate antimicrobial resistance genes from bacterial populations without disturbing the bacteria themselves or driving resistance adaptations.
Dr Muhammad Kamruzzaman is a Senior Scientist at WIMR’s Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, and a leader of the Plasmid Therapy research team says, “We have constructed genetically modified (GM) therapeutic plasmids that can be used to cure antibiotic resistance plasmids from bacteria in humans, animals and environmental ecosystems. We have also developed GM-probiotic plasmids to protect bacteria from acquiring antibiotic resistance plasmids.
“This procedure cures antibiotic resistance without killing the host bacterial populations, preserving the microbiota and preventing damage to the gut microbial ecosystem.”
Professor Jon Iredell, Director of WIMR’s Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Research Centre says, “We are incredibly grateful for this MRFF grant that recognises the potential of Plasmid Therapy and supports our research efforts to eradicate AMR, and potentially save millions of lives globally.”
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