Antibiotic resistance: microbiologists turn to new technologies in the hunt for solutions

The rise of drug-resistant infections is one of the biggest global threats to health, food security and development. Antibiotic-resistant superbugs were estimated to kill 1.27 million people in 2019, and the UN projects that drug-resistant diseases could cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050. In this episode, we hear from a microbiologist at a hospital in Nigeria working on the frontlines against antibiotic resistance, and find out about the new scientific techniques, including artificial intelligence, being deployed to find new potential antibiotics.

Featuring Nubwa Medugu, a clinical microbiologist at Nile University of Nigeria and André O. Hudson, dean of the College of Science and professor of biochemistry at Rochester Institute of Technology in the US.

This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware with assistance from Katie Flood. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer of the show. Full credits for this episode are available here. A transcript is also available.

Further reading:

• Will we still have antibiotics in 50 years? We asked 7 global experts
• Resistance to antibiotics in northern Nigeria: what bacteria are prevalent, and which drugs work against them
• Antibiotic resistance is at a crisis point – government support for academia and Big Pharma to find new drugs could help defeat superbugs
• More reading from our series on The dangers of antibiotic resistance