Discovery is centred around the Swab and Send (opens in a new tab)antibiotic discovery project which, over the last 5 years, has yielded 100s of hits against target pathogens (both bacterial and fungal).

We are also investigating numerous antimicrobial molecules in collaboration with colleagues in The Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions and the Centre for Drugs and Diagnostics and Chemists at the University of Liverpool and local SMEs(opens in a new tab) by determining their efficacy against a wide range of clinical bacterial isolates growing both planktonically and as a biofilm. We are also determining their resistance emergence potential which is linked to genomic studies of resistant strains and functional metagenomics in order to determine mechanisms of action and target sites of novel compounds.

Our drug discovery and development activity is currently funded by UKRI, ERDF, ANTRUK and the Wellcome Trust