Medicines for the future – the search for new antibiotics

‘There are some bacteria

which aren’t killed by

antibiotics any more. They

make people very ill indeed.

We need new medicines all the

time to keep ahead in the

race against disease.’‘It isn’t easy to find

chemicals which kill

bacteria but don’t hurt

people. Scientists have to

search in all sorts of

different places.

Scientist 1

“Lots of the antibiotics we have already – like

penicillin - are made by moulds. Lots of moulds

are found in soil.

My team looks at soil from all over the world.

We are looking for a new mould that makes

chemicals which can kill bacteria.”

Scientist 2

‘I look at how bacteria live and grow,

and then use my computer to try and

design new chemicals which will stop

the bacteria growing and kill them.’

Scientist 3

‘Ancient Egyptians used honey to help heal

wounds. We think they may have had the right

idea! Honey seems to contain chemicals which

stop infections caused by bacteria. We are

trying to find out how it works.’

Scientist 4

‘Crocodiles often fight and give each other

terrible bites. Surprisingly, these bites don’t

get infected, even though crocs have filthy

teeth and live in dirty water full of bacteria.

We’ve been looking at crocodile blood – which

isn’t very easy – to see if we can find out why

the bacteria don’t infect the crocodiles. ‘We’ve found a chemical in

crocodile blood which

kills bacteria – even

bacteria which aren’t

killed by any other

antibiotics. We really

hope that crocodillin, as

we’ve called it, might be

an important medicine in

the future!’

Scientist 5

‘Our research is a bit fishy! The slime made by

fish seems to protect them from infections. If

they lose their slime, they soon get infected

scales. We want to know if fish slime contains

chemicals which might make useful antibiotics

for people.

‘We take different

chemicals from fish slime

and see how good they are

at killing bacteria.

We’ve got a long way to

go but things are looking

hopeful.’

Scientist 6

‘We are looking at

organisms from the sea

shore in our search for

new antibiotics.

‘We’ve found some

bacteria on Scottish

beaches which are

giving us some exciting

results. They produce a

chemical which kills

other bacteria -

including some that

aren’t affected by

other antibiotics.’

Scientist 7

‘We’ve been looking at the

seas too – but not on the

shores! Some bacteria found

in the deepest oceans make

chemicals which we think

could be very useful in

killing other bacteria which

cause disease.

‘We’re calling the most

useful chemical so far

abyssomycin because it comes

from the deepest abyss of

the sea. We’ll keep looking

until we find the right

one!’

‘Wow - I think

that’s amazing.

I want to be a

scientist when I

grow up and

help find new

medicines…’

‘Me too!’

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