Deep in the cold waters of the world’s oceans lurk marine organisms which could hold the key to one of the biggest challenges of modern medicine – resistance to antibiotics. The widespread use and misuse of antibiotics is leading to the development of strains of bacteria that are not susceptible to standard drug treatments. The World Health Organisation has warned that rising resistance to antibiotics could mean the “end of modern medicine as we know it”.
The PharmaSea project is part of a worldwide mission traveling to remote locations in China, New Zealand, Chile, Antarctica, the Arctic and the South African coastline. Scientists collaborating on the PharmaSea project, including a group of IMBM researchers from the University of the Western Cape, are hoping that organisms found, such as deep-sea sponges and bacteria, could help create vital new antibiotics. Samples collected by the collaborators in the PharmaSea project will be analyzed at the state of the art labs at the University of Tromso.
Dr Joff Lacey joins a team of scientists in Norway hoping to discover the next antibiotic in the fjords of Norway. Species and organisms that are collected on each expedition are meticulously sorted and then tested for their ability to kill bacteria.