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Scientists discover first major new antibiotic in 25 years
By Ryan Whitwam Jan. 8, 2015
continued here http://www.geek.com/science/scientists-discover-first-major-new-antibiotic-in-25-years-1613051/
By Ryan Whitwam Jan. 8, 2015
There’s a microbial war going on right under our very noses, and after 25 years of little to no success, scientists have found a new way to repurpose the weapons of this war for our own use. An experimental antibiotic called teixobactin is now being tested as a way to combat infections that have evolved resistance to other drugs. Researchers have high hopes that teixobactin will prove safe and effective in humans, but mouse studies have been overwhelmingly positive.
So why has it been decades since a new antibiotic compound has been discovered? As with most drugs on the market, antibiotics are produced in nature. The trick is finding, isolating, and producing them in useful quantities. Antibiotic compounds are utilized by bacteria to kill other strains of bacteria, thus freeing up space and resources for their offspring. The problem, however, is that most bacteria won’t grow in the lab.
Look at a sample of soil and 99% of the bacteria living in it cannot be grown using standard methods. Many of them don’t even have names.
Teixobactin’s discovery comes thanks to a new method of screening these unculturable bacteria. Scientists at Northeastern University in Boston with support from the NIH and German government developed a device called the Ichip. Soil is diluted with nutrient agar and placed in the Ichip. The surface is covered with tiny wells separated by semi-permeable membranes that trap individual bacterial cells. With the organisms corralled, scientists can study them without creating a culture.
continued here http://www.geek.com/science/scientists-discover-first-major-new-antibiotic-in-25-years-1613051/