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Recognising the futility of developing next generation antibiotics without developing strategies to undermine the resilience of bacterial biofilms. The end goal of the research is to develop a means of destabilising bacterial biofilms and enable improved efficacy of traditional antibiotics.

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Competitive advantage

  • Expertise in microbial ecology, organic and surface chemistry, antimicrobial resistance, optometry and contact lens development
  • State-of-the-art laboratories for biofilm-based assays
  • World-class facilities for genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics
  • Leadership in fundamental research on biofilms for over two decades

Impact

Antibiotics, highly effective at killing bacterial cells, have proven to be ineffective against cells entrained in a biofilm matrix—many infectious disease states involve multiple microorganisms (rather than a single culprit) bunkered in high cell density communities encased in a complex polymeric matrix. Developing a means of destabilising these biofilms will undermine the resistance to antibiotics and prevent unnecessary deaths from diseases that are currently curable.

Successful outcomes

  • Inspiring next generation pharmaceutical companies to target biofilm control

Capabilities and facilities

  • Synthetic chemistry and biofilm testing facilities
  • Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics (genomics, transcriptomics)
  • Biomedical imaging facilities for biofilm characterisation
  • Biomedical mass spectrometry facility for proteomics

Our partners

  • University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
  • Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
  • Californian Institute of Technology (USA)