Prof. Elisabetta Buommino
associate professor in Microbiology and Clinic Microbiology at the department of pharmacy, Università di Napoli Federico II.
Title
Antimicrobial resistance, a threat to human health
Abstract
The discovery of antibiotics is one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. However, due to increasing antimicrobial use, microbes – such as bacteria and fungi– have developed the ability to resist to them. The result is that common infections that were once easily treatable are becoming more difficult to cure and, in some cases, can be fatal. The recent COVID pandemic taught us that microorganisms know how to overcome our defence strategy, but we have learned that there is still much to do. There’s an urgent need for new antimicrobials. In this context, polymicrobial diseases are particularly difficult to treat, since the drugs must recognize different targets to contrast microorganisms’ growth. This can lead to chronicity and the emergence of antibiotic resistance, contributing to the high incidence of fungal and bacterial co-infections. Researchers worldwide are engaged in the drug discovery of new compounds, derived both from the natural world than obtained through synthetic route. The cooperation between the microbiologist and the chemist is fundamental in the design of new compounds or in the discovery of new drugs.
In the last years my interest has focused mainly on the bacterial and fungal mechanisms at the basis of drug resistance. This led my studies to the screening of hundreds of compounds both natural and of synthesis, using the broth dilution assay and the checkerboard assay, the latter to analyse the interaction of two drugs. Only the compounds giving the best performance were then deeply screened for their ability to modulate microbe virulence factors or the molecular pathways governing their pathogenicity.
Short Biography
Elisabetta Buommino is associate professor in Microbiology and Clinic Microbiology at the department of pharmacy, Università di Napoli Federico II. Her scientific activity is documented by 98 research articles published on international peer-reviewed journal, 4 book chapter, by 4 patents in the area of antimicrobials research and development.
The scientific activity focuses on the complex interactions between microorganisms and hosts, and the antimicrobial activity of natural and synthetic derivatives against pathogenic and multidrug resistant microorganisms, the study of the molecular mechanisms at the base of microbial resistance, as well as the possible transmission of commensal microorganisms from pet animals to humans.