Aston Multidisciplinary Research for Antimicrobial Resistance: The AMR4AMR project

抗菌素耐药性，即微生物克服目前几乎所有抗菌素治疗的能力，已被确定为21世纪面临的主要挑战之一，它已成为包括发达国家在内的全球范围内的一个严重问题。除非我们加紧研究并找到应对这些细菌的新方法，否则我们可能很快就会发现自己陷入了与青霉素研发之前类似的情况，在这种情况下，简单的感染最终会产生致命的后果。生物体耐药性增加的原因是多方面的，因此，需要来自许多不同领域的研究人员共同努力才能找到长期解决办法；抗菌素耐药性提出了一系列复杂和多方面的问题，范围从学科领域的基础科学研究到个人和社会的行为。虽然跨学科之间的传统界限、跨学科研究已经在研究界得到了很好的确立，但它尚未以协调一致的方式应用于抗菌素耐药性问题。阿斯顿抗菌素耐药性跨学科研究：AMR4AMR项目将创造一个活跃和充满活力的研究环境，将来自阿斯顿市各地的研究人员聚集在一起，来自生物学等学科、物理化学、药剂学、工程学、数学和统计学等学科，以及心理学、药房实践、商业和计算机科学等其他关键领域，全面关注抗菌素耐药性问题，并找到新的创新解决方案。只有通过综合使用各种方法，我们才能将抗菌素耐药性的前景转变为一个可管理和可处理的问题。阿斯顿是一所规模小而充满活力的大学，AMR4AMR将使我们能够非常有效地将我们世界领先的研究人员聚集在一起，以确定和开发解决抗菌素耐药性问题的新方法。为了增加这方面的实质性价值，由于大学的规模和组织，我们处于独特的地位，可以从心理学、药学实践、语言学和我们的商学院吸收研究投入，我们具有与企业密切合作的公认能力，所有这些都将为研究提供信息，并帮助将科学转化为可在现实世界中有效使用的解决方案。解决抗菌素耐药性问题将带来许多好处；它不仅将提高生活质量，为我们的医院和工作场所提供更安全的环境，而且还将带来经济利益，因为抗菌素耐药性减轻了我们本已紧张的医疗服务的负担。AMR4AMR将把研究人员聚集在一起，研究一系列互补的和量身定制的解决方案，例如更智能和更便宜的方法来快速鉴定微生物及其耐药性，更好的药物和更智能的输送方式，从植入物(如髋关节置换)到更好的抗菌工作面的任何新材料，最适合患者的药物，从儿科到养老金领取者，帮助人们完成药物疗程(不这样做是微生物耐药性的一个主要原因)，以及更好的方法来识别感染的来源和传播方式。从长远来看，这项研究将导致“精确医学”的目标，在分子水平上确定疾病的原因，并使用有针对性的联合疗法来解决特定的疾病过程。通过创造一个积极支持这种跨学科方法的环境，将开发新的、创新的科学和工程以及更好的实践，并将为确保我们领先于超级细菌一步奠定基础。

Antimicrobial resistance, the ability of microorganisms to overcome almost all of the antimicrobial treatments that we currently have, has been identified as one of the main challenges facing the 21st century, and it has become a critical problem across the globe, including in the developed world. Unless we step up our research efforts and find new approaches to deal with these bugs, it might not be long before we will find ourselves in a situation similar to times before the development of the penicillins, where simple infections turn out to have deadly consequences. The reasons for the increasing resistance of organisms is many fold, and it is, therefore, going to take a concerted effort of researchers from many different areas to find long-term solutions; antimicrobial resistance presents a spectrum of complex and multifaceted questions, ranging in scope from fundamental scientific research at the horizons of disciplines through to the behaviour of individuals and society. While working across the conventional boundaries between the disciplines, interdisciplinary research, has become well established in the research world, it has not yet been applied in a concerted fashion to the problem of antimicrobial resistance. Aston Interdisciplinary Research for Antimicrobial Resistance: the AMR4AMR project, will generate an active and vibrant research environment that will bring together researchers from across Aston, from disciplines like biology, the physical sciences such as physics and chemistry, pharmacy, engineering, mathematics and statistics, and other key areas like psychology, pharmacy practice, business and computer science, to focus holistically on the problem of antimicrobial drug resistance, and find new and innovative solutions. It is only by using a combination of approaches that we will transform the antimicrobial resistance landscape into a manageable and tractable problem. Aston is a small and dynamic University, and AMR4AMR will enable us to very effectively bring together our world-leading researchers to identify and develop new ways of tackling the problems of antimicrobial resistance. To add substantial value to this, due to the size and organization of the University, we are uniquely placed to draw in research input from psychology, pharmacy practice, linguistics and our Business School, and we have a proven ability to work closely with businesses, all of which will inform the research and help to translate the science into solutions that can be used effectively in the real world. Tackling the problem of antimicrobial resistance will bring many benefits; not only will it improve quality of life and provide safer environments in our hospitals and workplaces, it will bring financial benefits as the burden of antimicrobial resistance on our already strained health service is reduced. AMR4AMR will bring together researchers to work on a range of complementary and tailored solutions, such as smarter and cheaper methods for rapid identification of the microorganisms and their resistance, better drugs and smarter ways to deliver them, new materials for anything from implants, such as hip replacements, to better antimicrobial work-surfaces, medicines that are best suited to the patient, from paediatrics to pensioners, helping people to complete course of drugs (not doing so is a major cause of microbial resistance), and better ways of identifying were infections originate and how they spread. In the longer term this research will lead to the goal of "precision medicine", to identify the causes of disease at the molecular level, and to use targeted, combined therapies to address specific disease processes. Through the generation of an environment that actively supports this interdisciplinary approach, new and innovative science and engineering, and better practices will be developed, and will provide the foundation for ensuring we stay one step ahead of the superbugs.