€2.5m grant for UCC professor to combat spread of resistant bacteria

UCC researcher Professor Paul Ross has been awarded one of the most competitive research funding grants in Europe. Picture: Clare Keogh

A researcher at University College Cork is to lead a European-funded investigation to find viable alternatives to antibiotics — a challenge described as "one of the most important of our time".

Professor Paul Ross will work on the project to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in his role as director of APC Microbiome Ireland, a research centre based out of UCC.

AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites mutate and no longer respond to the medicines — including antibiotics — that are designed to treat them.

This makes the illnesses very hard to treat and increases the risk of diseases spreading, causing severe illness and death.

The research is seen as vital, given the rapid emergence and spread of resistant bacteria worldwide, which threatens the efficacy of antibiotics and antivirals.

This has, in part, been attributed to the overuse and misuse of these medications, as well as the lack of new drug development in this area.

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A report from the Irish government in 2019 said that “more must be done to raise awareness and to provide education about antimicrobial resistance”.

Statistics from the UK have suggested that nearly 150 serious infections that did not respond to antibiotics occurred each day last year.

Potential of bacteriocins

Professor Ross has been granted funding of €2.5m from the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant to explore the potential for naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides, called bacteriocins, which are produced by bacteria in the human gut and other sites for the development of new antimicrobial therapies.

Bacteriocins are said to represent a potential solution to the threat of antimicrobial resistance by killing drug-resistant bacteria while also avoiding the collateral damage caused by broad antibiotics to gut microbiota.

The researcher will lead a team of scientists who aim to develop these bacteriocins as effective microbials to predictably edit microbiomes and target pathogens.

“I am delighted to receive an ERC Advanced Award to further investigate bacteriocins as alternative therapeutics to antibiotics, in a time when we now appreciate the role of the microbiota in human and animal health,” said Professor Ross.

“By investigating bacteriocins as potential clinical antimicrobials, we can explore antibiotic alternatives that are target-specific and do not cause collateral damage to microbiomes. 

Bacteriocins are the most important group of antimicrobial peptides with potentially revolutionary applications in health.” 

The funding from the European Research Council typically gives Europe’s top researchers the opportunity to lead groundbreaking projects to tackle the most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

UCC president Professor John O’Halloran extended his congratulations to Prof Ross, and said it will allow him to “advance his pioneering, impactful research in microbiome science” and tackle "one of the most important global challenges of our time".