Recruiting Bismuth to the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract:

Metal-based antibiotics are not new and those based on silver still attract much attention; both as metal-organic compounds (eg silver sulphadiazine) and more recently as nanoparticles. However, there are significant problems; environmental contamination and persistence, human toxicity, and emerging resistance have all been identified as future limiting factors which may lead to greater regulation. Alternatives to silver which provide equal if not better benefits will need to be found. In this presentation, Prof Andrews will describe his recent effort in developing bismuth(III) compounds which display excellent antimicrobial activity, particularly against multi-resistant strains of bacteria, while showing negligible toxicity towards mammalian cells.

Speaker's Profile:

Prof. Phil Andrews, Deputy Head of School, School of Chemistry, Monash University Australia