PI: Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD, PhD
Co-PI: Gerard Nau, MD, PhD
Resistance to antimicrobial therapies is a crisis that threatens clinical practice from primary care to the most advanced medical interventions. Much of what we take for granted in clinical medicine could become too risky, as microorganisms have become increasingly resistant to our newest medications and our antibiotics. Tens of thousands of deaths per year in the United States are directly attributed to antimicrobial resistance, and cause enormous costs to the health care system. In addition to this problem, pharmaceutical companies have largely abandoned antibiotic development programs. As an alternative to large pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and biotech startups can step in and offer novel approaches to drug discovery.
The principal objective of Phase I COBRE application is to build a unique, multidisciplinary center to study mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and develop therapeutic countermeasures. The long-term goal of the Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Therapeutic Discovery (CARTD) at The Miriam Hospital is to develop new therapies for infections caused by drug-resistant pathogens. This goal will be attained through short-term objectives of developing a new generation of junior investigators.