Battling the Superbugs: The Future of Fighting Infections

We have fallen woefully behind in the race to keep up with harmful bacteria as they continually evolve to outsmart our antibiotics, in fact, there are already superbugs we cannot defeat. Predictions are by 2050 there will be more deaths from infections than from cancer if we don’t solve this crisis. Join immunologists, biologists, and infectious disease specialists to explore some exciting new tools that may be our salvation in the battle against superbugs.

PARTICIPANTS: Janelle Ayre, Martin Blaser, Sean Brady, Vincent A. Fischetti, Jo Handelsman

MODERATOR: Carl Zimmer

MORE INFO ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND PARTICIPANTS: https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/resistance-not-futile-end-antibiotics-future-fighting-infections/

This program is part of the BIG IDEAS SERIES, made possible with support from the JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION.

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TOPICS:
- Participant intros: 00:29
- Antibiotic resistance experiment video: 01:34
- Discovery of antibiotics and early research: 03:31
- Overall benefit of the discovery of antibiotics: 06:09
- When did the scientific community notice antibiotic resistance? 7:33
- Why is bacteria becoming more resistant and dangerous?: 8:18
- Antibiotics are not precision weapons: 9:49
- Are we still developing new antibiotics?: 11:21
- The antibiotic market is broken: 14:16
- Finding antibiotics in the soil: 15:40
- Challenges of culturing bacteria: 18:30
- Explanation of phage therapy: 20:07
- Lysine enzyme as antibiotic alternative: 23:50
- Host health as treatment for infection: 25:46
- Complexity of discovering antibiotics in our own microbiome: 29:24
- The future of antibiotic use and potential replacements: 32:07
- The economics of the future of antibiotics: 35:09
- Phasing out broad-spectrum antibiotics: 36:35
- Investing in the future of antibiotics as a public good: 38:40
What is the accuracy of current diagnostic tools?: 41:20
Are there any government programs pushing research forward?: 44:44
Antibacterial products as disease prevention: 45:58
Is it possible to generate synthetic antibiotics?: 49:23

PROGRAM CREDITS:
- Produced by John Plummer and Laura Dattaro

This program was recorded live at the 2018 World Science Festival and has been edited and condensed for YouTube.