Penicillin (sometimes abbreviated PCN or pen) is a group of antibiotics derived from ''Penicillium'' fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections.
Some strains of heavily antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Ghana are not successful at spreading outside of the hospital, suggesting that control measures can be focused on clinical settings to help curb treatment-resistant infections.
Fungi produce metabolites that humans have used to improve health. For example, they secrete penicillin, which is then purified and used as an antibiotic for humans, leading to the development of many other antibiotics.
It is still unclear how antibiotics work to destroy bacteria. This knowledge, however, is required for the development of new antibiotics. That is exactly what is required because bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics.
In a potential game changer for the treatment of superbugs, a new class of antibiotics was developed that cured mice infected with bacteria deemed nearly "untreatable" in humans -; and resistance to the drug was virtually undetectable.
Two common wild plants contain extracts that inhibit the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to infect living cells, an Emory University study finds.
Taking a bold step into a new era of biology, a team of scientists from the University of California San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Yale University has been awarded $10 million by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support research on using viruses as new therapeutic agents.
A transporter which some bacteria use to recycle fragments of their cell wall has been discovered by researchers at Umeå University, Sweden.
Researchers from the University of Galway have reported a new discovery that could enhance treatment options for superbug MRSA infections using penicillin-type antibiotics that have proven ineffective on their own.
Research on fungi underway at the University of Kansas has helped transform tough-to-recycle plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean into key components for making pharmaceuticals.
Researchers at McMaster University have created a powerful new weapon against bacterial contamination and infection.
Plastic waste is one of the most significant ecological and economic problems of our time. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a chemical–biological method for upcycling polyethylene waste: catalytic cleavage is used to make carboxylic diacids that are subsequently converted into pharmacologically useful natural products by genetically engineered fungi.
Codonopsis lanceolata, more commonly referred to as "deodeok", is used as a medicinal herb in South Korea.
A new drug combination has been shown to be more successful, especially against persistent, drug-resistant infections, according to an international study conducted by a Rutgers Researcher comparing new and older therapies for complex urinary tract infections.
Living cell factories can manufacture custom drug compounds and biofuels using biological enzymes.
A recent study proves that antibiotic use in the first week of birth is associated with a reduction in the number of healthy bacteria required to digest milk.
The solutions to many of humanity's problems can be found within nature. For instance, who could have guessed that an antibiotic as powerful as penicillin would be found in a common mold, or that the drug aspirin would be derived from the bark of the willow tree?
In this interview, we speak to Professor Jason Micklefield about his latest research that may be able to produce new antibiotics through gene-editing technologies.
Scientists have found evidence that a type of the antibiotic resistant superbug MRSA arose in nature long before the use of antibiotics in humans and livestock, which has traditionally been blamed for its emergence.
Researchers recently discovered a novel route to produce complex antibiotics taking advantage of gene editing to re-program pathways to future medicines.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University, and the University of Bonn have identified a new group of molecules that have an antibacterial effect against many antibiotic-resistant bacteria.