Within the KIC call ‘Antimicrobial Agents for the Preclinical Pipeline’, NWO has awarded funding to five projects. In total, the consortia receive 4,534,774 euros in funding from NWO and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). This allows them to conduct research into new antimicrobial agents and accelerate the implementation of such alternatives for up to six years. The consortia consist of researchers, doctors, and partners from international research institutes, hospitals, private companies, and social organizations.
About the Call
Antimicrobial agents (including antibiotics) are of great value to healthcare. They are essential for treating infections and play an important role in medical procedures such as chemotherapy and organ donation. The increasing resistance to these agents will place significant pressure on our healthcare system. NWO and the Ministry of VWS jointly developed this call for proposals to stimulate the development of new antimicrobial agents and additional therapies against bacterial and fungal infections.
Allocated Projects
Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing societal threat, with over 1 million annual deaths directly attributable to infections with resistant bacteria. In this project, researchers from Leiden University and VU University Amsterdam will collaborate with several companies in the search for new antibiotics. The researchers will attempt to identify inhibitors of an important bacterial enzyme known as LspA. Inhibition of LspA is known to be toxic to bacterial cells. Importantly, LspA is not found in humans, making it a promising and potentially safe target for the discovery of new antibiotics.
Consortium
Seino Jongkees (Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam), Willem Jespers (MODSIM Pharma AB), Nawaz Khan, Bioverzsys AG, Bas Evers (Cell4Pharma), Martin Caffrey (Trinity College Dublin), Rolf Muller (Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland), Meta Roestenberg (Leiden UMC), Laura Piddock (Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership)