Top
Skip to Content
LOGO(small) - Queen's University Belfast
  • Our x-twitter
  • Our facebook
LOGO(large) - Queen's University Belfast

Wellcome-Wolfson Institute For Experimental Medicine

  • Home
  • Our Research
    • Research Themes
    • Find a PhD Supervisor
  • Our People
    • Key Contacts
    • Academic Staff
    • Fellows
    • Research Staff
    • Technical Staff
    • Administrative/Clerical Staff
    • Emeritus Professors
    • Opportunities
    • Visiting Students
  • Our Place
    • Facilities
    • Seminar Series
    • The Barcroft Lecture
    • The Annual Kenneth B. Fraser Memorial Symposium in Infection Biology
    • Green Impact
  • Outreach
    • Balmoral Show
    • Northern Ireland Science Festival
    • Learn@Lunch 2022-2023
    • Pint of Science
    • UNISTEM Belfast 2025
    • Apply for Work Experience
    • Research Placements and Experiences - STEM Learning
    • NI Multiple Sclerosis Research Network
  • Education and Training
    • Postgraduate Degrees
    • Masters in Biomedical & Clinical Research
    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Summer Student Programme
    • iEngage Online Summer Student Research Programme
    • Postdoctoral Development Programme
    • Short Courses
  • News
    • WWIEM Newsletter
  • Innovation
  • Impact
  • COVID-19
  • Donate
  • Home
  • Our Research
    • Research Themes
    • Find a PhD Supervisor
  • Our People
    • Key Contacts
    • Academic Staff
    • Fellows
    • Research Staff
    • Technical Staff
    • Administrative/Clerical Staff
    • Emeritus Professors
    • Opportunities
    • Visiting Students
  • Our Place
    • Facilities
    • Seminar Series
    • The Barcroft Lecture
    • The Annual Kenneth B. Fraser Memorial Symposium in Infection Biology
    • Green Impact
  • Outreach
    • Balmoral Show
    • Northern Ireland Science Festival
    • Learn@Lunch 2022-2023
    • Pint of Science
    • UNISTEM Belfast 2025
    • Apply for Work Experience
    • Research Placements and Experiences - STEM Learning
    • NI Multiple Sclerosis Research Network
  • Education and Training
    • Postgraduate Degrees
    • Masters in Biomedical & Clinical Research
    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Summer Student Programme
    • iEngage Online Summer Student Research Programme
    • Postdoctoral Development Programme
    • Short Courses
  • News
    • WWIEM Newsletter
  • Innovation
  • Impact
  • COVID-19
  • Donate
  • Our x-twitter
  • Our facebook
In This Section
  • WWIEM Newsletter

  • Home
  • Wellcome-Wolfson Institute For Experimental Medicine
  • News

News

Queen’s Researchers Make Killer Superbug Breakthrough

14 November, 2017

Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast together with the University of Vienna have discovered that treatment for the antibiotic resistant bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae could lie within our bodies’ natural defences.

Multidrug resistance of microbes poses a serious global threat to human health. Globally, 700,000 people die every year due to antimicrobial resistance.

The bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae causes a number of infections including sepsis, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. As Klebsiella becomes more resistant to antibiotics, these common infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat, which has led to the World Health Organisation recently declaring an urgent need for new therapeutics to be discovered for Klebsiella.

Professor Jose Bengoechea from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast and one of the lead researchers explains: “Klebsiella pneumoniae is of particular concern as it can cause infections such as bladder infections and pneumonia and has mortality rates of 25-60 per cent. Antibiotics that were previously used to treat these infections are no longer effective meaning treatment options for common illnesses are becoming increasingly limited.”

However, a recent discovery by researchers at Queen’s University and the University of Vienna could radically change the approach to treating this common infection. The research findings, published in the high profile journal PlosPathogens, show that interferons, naturally produced in our bodies, are fighting back against the bacterial Klebsiella infection.

Professor Bengoechea explains: “Interferons are well known weapons found within our bodies that fight against infections caused by viruses. This pre-clinical study has found that interferons are being produced to fight against the infection caused by Klebsiella, which is fast becoming resistant to treatment by antibiotics.”

The research has discovered how immune cells arriving at the site of infection communicate and join forces to eradicate Klebsiella during lung infections. The study suggests that future therapies of severe Klebsiella infections could target the immune system, rather than the pathogen itself.

Professor Bengoechea added: “These findings indicate that we can focus on therapy that manipulates interferons to fight Klebsiella, maximising our bodies’ natural resources to treat disease and reducing the need to use antibiotics for these infections. Further investigations are needed but these are encouraging results and open new avenues of research to fight this killer infection. ”

This timely discovery coincides with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ‘Antibiotic Awareness Week’ (13 – 19 November 2017), during which WHO are raising awareness of the dangers of the global threat of antibiotic resistance, to avoid a return to a time before the discovery of antibiotics when infectious diseases were the main cause of mortality.

The research study was led by Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with the University of Vienna as part of the EU INBIONET project, funded by the BBSRC.

Share
Latest News
  • Queen’s academic awarded prestigious Professorship
    22 May, 2024
  • Professor Pascale Cossart of Institut Pasteur Receives Barcroft 2020 Medal
    4 May, 2022
  • Resource launched illustrating COVID-19 variants across Northern Ireland
    8 February, 2022
  • New research will focus on repurposing existing anti-viral therapies to treat patients with COVID-19
    31 January, 2022
  • Non-invasive ventilation for COVID-19 patients isn’t linked to heightened infection risk
    5 November, 2021
News
  • WWIEM Newsletter
QUB Logo
Contact Us

Wellcome-Wolfson Institute For Experimental Medicine

School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences
Queen's University Belfast
97 Lisburn Road
Belfast
BT9 7BL

Tel: (+44) 028 9097 1643
Email: wwiem@qub.ac.uk

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Our Research
  • Our People
  • Our Place
  • Education and Training
  • Opportunities

 

© Queen's University Belfast 2024
  • Privacy and cookies
  • Website accessibility
  • Freedom of information
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
  • University Policies and Procedures
Information
  • Privacy and cookies
  • Website accessibility
  • Freedom of information
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
  • University Policies and Procedures

© Queen's University Belfast 2024

Manage cookies