Antibiotic resistance is a serious challenge for the Canadian health care system, says the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology. To address this issue, leading Canadian researchers will collaborate with researchers from the United Kingdom to work on antibiotic resistance. The federal government and the UK Medical Research Council are funding the research, with two mixed Canadian-UK research teams to produce research on alternatives for existing antibiotics.

The first team, led by Professor Gary Dmitrienko from the University of Waterloo and Professor Tim Walsh from the University of Cardiff, will study hospital-acquired infections and treatments. The second team, led by Professor Anthony Clarke from the University of Guelph and Professor Chris Dowson of the University of Warwick, will focus on identifying new targets for the development of new antibiotics.

“The UK Medical Research Council has made huge strides over the last century to stem the tide of bacterial infection,” says Professor Doreen Cantrell, Chair of the Immunity and Infections Board at the Medical Research Council. “We must remain one step ahead of bacterial infections as they quickly learn how to combat drugs designed to beat them.”