A researcher from the University of Nottingham has discovered a possible alternative to traditional antibiotics to treat corneal infections.
In his project, Fight for Sight funded researcher Dr Darren Ting explored using antimicrobial peptide drugs to treat corneal infections, which can cause severe sight loss and blindness. The initial findings give hope for these antimicrobial peptide drugs to provide alternatives to conventional antibiotics.
In his project, Dr Ting created several new artificial peptides and showed that they could effectively kill bacteria grown on laboratory dishes – faster than conventional antibiotics. He now needs to carry out a lot more work to develop these molecules into drugs that can be used in the clinic, with further research about to begin, jointly funded by Fight for Sight and the Medical Research Council.
Antimicrobial peptides are naturally occurring tiny molecules that play an important role in the immune system of plants and animals. They are effective at killing bacteria and other microorganisms that can cause infections in people.
Dr Neil Ebenezer, head of research, policy and innovation at Fight for Sight, said: “Developing safe and effective peptide drugs would provide a new way to treat corneal infections as an alternative to conventional antibiotics in the future. These unconventional antimicrobials have great potential and so these initial findings from this exciting research could lead to the development of new treatments.”
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