British universities focus on scientific research to deal with "super bacteria"

The University of Newcastle has received about 1 million pounds (US $1.54) from the British government to carry out a study on the mechanism of antibiotic resistance in order to find a more effective way to deal with this global public health problem, a statement said Thursday A number of universities and research institutions in the UK have received a total of £ 5 million from the government to conduct in-depth research on antibiotic resistance The University of Newcastle is also involved in this large research project According to reports, the school's researchers will analyze the peptidoglycan, an important component of bacterial cell wall, which is a key point for penicillin and other antibiotics to kill bacteria At present, the composition and mechanism of peptidoglycan are not well understood in the medical field The researchers believe that only by understanding how antibiotics act on bacteria through peptidoglycan can more effective antibiotics be found Rick Lewis, a professor at the University of Newcastle who participated in the study, said the research team hopes to build closer cooperation for the academic community and pharmaceutical enterprises through the project to jointly deal with the "super bacteria" threat Since its discovery in the 1940s, antibiotics have increased life expectancy by 10 years In the past 25 years, the number of new antibiotics entering clinical application has decreased dramatically At the same time, with the wide use of antibiotics, bacterial resistance is also increasing When some bacteria are resistant to almost all antibiotics, they are often called superbugs.