Samir Kumar-Singh
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Title: Current state-of-the-art in antibiotics, antibiotic resistance and novel antibacterial strategies
Biography
Biography: Samir Kumar-Singh
Abstract
The last years have been an exciting time for antimicrobials and microbiological research. Firstly, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was in the spotlight and heavily discussed in worldwide conventions from the G7 summit to President Obama’s national action plan. Also there has been unprecedented investment in developing new antibacterial strategies by the public (EC) and private sector, mainly in the EU and (increasingly) the USA. After a long hiatus, a new class of antimicrobials (teixobactin) was finally discovered. Alarmingly, however, we also observed emergence of novel AMR mechanisms to last line antibiotics such as colistin this year. Finally, some very interesting breakthroughs in the field of novel diagnostics and host biomarker discovery were made utilizing nanotechnology and proteomics. This keynote lecture will try to encapsulate the major findings in the field of microbiological research during the last year with respect to AMR, novel antibiotics and diagnostics and host biomarker discovery