CARTNET — Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance Training Network

Results in brief

Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance Training Network

CARTNET has addressed the challenge of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens that can be transmitted between humans and animals including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and pathogenic E. coli. For these pathogens, resistance is becoming critical as less and less treatment options are available while at the same time multidrug resistance is becoming more frequent. In consequence society is increasingly needing options for antimicrobial therapy not just for treating human infections but also for reducing the pool of resistant bacterial pathogens in animals, such as livestock, from which antibiotic resistance may be transmitted. The project aimed to develop alternative solutions approaches and compounds to target antibiotic resistant pathogens and did so by investigating phage therapy to target pathogenic E. coli in poultry; by limiting the spread of phages needed by livestock MRSA for human infections; by developing new antimicrobials that target essential signal transduction systems and by exploring novel antimicrobials expressed from the environmental organisms. These objectives were addressed by structure guided improvement of small molecule inhibitors, by eliciting expression of silent antimicrobial gene clusters in genera of actinomycetes and based, by metagenomic data as well as screenings identify novel compounds in various habitats, by isolating phages to be used in phage therapy and by identifying intrinsic and transferable antibiotic resistance mechanisms that could guide identification of risk markers pointing to strains prone to resistance development.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

CARTNET trains young researchers in Europe to address serious and global problems of antibiotic resistance. Disease-causing bacteria are becoming resistant even to last resort antibiotics and transmission of resistance genes and resistant pathogens is widespread between human, animal and environmental reservoirs. Therefore, CARTNET will focus on alternative approaches to handle antibiotic resistance and treating resistant infections in both humans and animals. It will provide competences to young researchers and future policymakers that will allow them to use knowledge at all relevant scientific levels and in collaboration with stakeholders in both human and veterinary medicine as well as in chemistry, structural biology and natural product chemistry to develop new antimicrobial solutions. CARTNET comprises researchers who are leading experts on antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial drug discovery. They will in cooperation with the recruited early stage research (ESR) trainees use structural biology to synthesize new antimicrobials, screen environmental microorganisms and microbiota for new active compounds and limit spread of resistance through knowledge of dissemination of mobile genetic elements. The research training is hosted by universities with a strong track record of graduate training and is composed of an ambitious scientific program flanked by essential generic training courses and with ample opportunity for networking at network meetings, conferences and shared secondments. In addition to training young researchers for the challenges of tomorrow CARTNET will from day one provide excellent research with impressive scientific and societal impact.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · MadridSpain
LATVIJAS ORGANISKAS SINTEZES INSTITUTS · RigaLatvia
NAICONS SRL · SaronnoItaly
OXFORD DRUG DESIGN LIMITED · LONDONUnited Kingdom
SCHOTHORST FEED RESEARCH B.V. · LelystadNetherlands
STATENS SERUM INSTITUT · Kobenhavn SDenmark
UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID · MadridSpain
UNIVERSITEIT GENT · GentBelgium
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK · COVENTRYUnited Kingdom
WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY · WageningenNetherlands
ZOETIS INTERNATIONAL SERVICES SAS · PARISFrance

CARTNET · Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance Training Network

Results in brief

Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance Training Network

Project objective

Participants

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