PAR Foundation grant for Dr. Adela Melcrova

The Research grant from the PAR foundation gives 1 000 000 SEK (90 000 EUR). The criteria as said by the foundation: Within the Research Grant category, we sought out projects that extend beyond traditional methods and embrace innovative approaches to preventing and managing bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance.

The grant allows Melcrova to build upon her research at the Zernike Institute in the Molecular Biophysics group (group of Wouter H. Roos) and bring it to more clinical settings at the Biomedical Engineering Department of the UMCG (group of Romana Schirhagl).

Summary of the project:

Reversing antimicrobial resistance — Nanoscopic methods pave the way

Antimicrobial resistance is a huge problem worldwide responsible for millions of deaths every year. Pathogens that we once could kill with antibiotics are not treatable anymore. In this project, Melcrova aims to explore possibilities of reversing resistance to common antibiotics in already resistant bacteria, whose resistance is linked to the organization of the bacterial membrane. She suggests to reverse the resistance with a drug that targets the membrane organization, and then kill the pathogens with now again working original antibiotic. To get insight into the process, she will look into the stress inside the bacteria cells using fluorescent nanodiamonds, and visualize the antibiotic attack by high-speed atomic force microscopy.