Novel small molecule and TCM approaches to support pig production, minimizing generation of resistance to human antibiotics

出现对抗生素的抗药性是一个主要的健康问题。为了解决这一问题，该项目将解决抗菌素耐药性的多个方面，汇集英国和中国的互补专业知识。抗生素在农业中被广泛使用，在保护农场动物免受疾病侵袭和增加粮食产量方面具有有效的作用。然而，也用于治疗人类的抗生素的使用可能会导致抗菌素耐药性的增加。该项目的目标之一是开发一种新的抗生素，这种抗生素专门针对一种导致猪感染的细菌，这将使人类抗生素在养殖业中的使用减少。该提案的第二个方面是调查传统中药在兽医环境中的使用情况。中药是典型的复杂混合物，作用机理尚不清楚。我们将使用复杂的计算建模方法，特别是一种称为化学基因组学的技术，来鉴定中药的活性成分，这可能使更多类别的抗生素被合理设计，或与现有化合物协同使用。

The emergence of resistance to antibiotics is a major health concern. To address this concern, this project willaddress multiple aspects of antibacterial resistance, bringing together complementary expertise in the UK andChina. Antibiotics are widely used in agriculture, where they have a valid role in protecting farm animals fromdisease and increasing food production. However, the use of antibiotics that are also used to treat humanscould lead to increased antimicrobial resistance. One of the aims of this project is to develop a new class ofantibiotics that are specific to a species of bacteria that cause infections in pigs, which would enable reduceduse of human antibiotics in farming. A second aspect of the proposal is to investigate the use of traditionalChinese medicines (TCMs) in veterinary settings. TCMs are typically complex mixtures with unknownmechanism of action. We will use sophisticated computational modelling methods, specifically a techniquecalled chemgenomics, to identify the active components of TCMs, which may enable further classes ofantibiotic to be rationally designed, or to be used synergistically with existing compounds.