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.
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.
According to research by the University of the West of Scotland, antiviral drugs can be produced from earlier overlooked substances seen in marine plants.
A forgotten antibiotic, temocillin, led to lower selection of resistant bacteria than the standard treatment for febrile urinary tract infection, in a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Every innovative drug starts with the search for an active substance targeting key players in disease-related processes.
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that a class of interwoven composite materials called semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (sIPNs) can be produced by living cells. The approach could make these versatile materials more biologically compatible for biomedical applications such as time-delayed drug delivery systems.
A research team has devised a new method that might revitalize the hunt for natural product medications to treat viral infections, cancer, and other diseases.
For almost a century, advances in human healthcare have largely relied on the efficiency through which bacterial diseases can be treated.
A study from the Center for Phage Technology, part of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, shows how the "hidden" genes in bacteriophages -- types of viruses that infect and destroy bacteria -- may be key to the development of a new class of antibiotics for human health.
Scientists have compiled the first comprehensive review of plant natural products that play a role in antibacterial activity, to serve as a guide in the search for new drugs to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Scientists have reported the first strong evidence of the role of HLA-B, a crucial histocompatibility complex gene, in penicillin allergy.
For the first time, scientists have sequenced the genome of Alexander Fleming’s penicillin mould and compared it to the later models.
Antibiotics are among the most important discoveries of modern medicine and have saved millions of lives since the discovery of penicillin almost 100 years ago.
Rice University scientists have won federal support for their pursuit of novel drugs to treat human disease.
According to a study 43% of Staphylococcus bacteria harboring on exercise equipment in university gyms was resistant to ampicillin.
Researchers have discovered that genetic mutations that occur in MRSA enable it to evolve and turn out to be more resistant to antibiotics like penicillin.