Anti-infectious strategies

The fight against infectious diseases, thought to have been won with the discovery of antibiotics in the last century, is a priority nowadays. This fight is faced with two major problems: the emergence of multi-resistance to antibiotics, and the development and persistence of microorganisms in biofilms. First- and second-line antibiotics are gradually losing their effectiveness, and the last 20 years of research efforts to discover new antimicrobial molecules have been disappointing.

Antibiotic resistance is recognized worldwide as a major threat to human health by the World Health Organization and governments, including France. The scientific community is encouraged by international action plans to direct its research towards countering this potential global crisis. Although highly resistant Gram-negative pathogens are currently the most worrying, the development of new therapies against Gram-positive pathogens remains essential in view of the inevitable evolution of their resistance and the number of infections and deaths they cause.

Using knowledge gained from the study of pathogenic bacterial issues such as virulence, biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance, we are defining therapeutic targets that can be addressed by new antimicrobial molecules. These targets are, for example, bacterial sensors that enable bacteria to perceive and adapt to environmental conditions, or components of the bacterial wall.

For these new antimicrobial molecules, we are not only looking for antimicrobial activity, but also anti-biofilm, anti-virulence and anti-drug resistance. In the latter case, we speak of adjuvant molecules that can be combined with a traditional antibiotic.

We are also exploring the possibilities of new combinations of antibacterial molecules.

Finally, our laboratory is a member of the PROMISE meta-network and the AntibioDEAL network, which bring together all those involved in research into antibiotic resistance, with the aim of coordinating and facilitating the identification and development of antimicrobial molecules.